Total sales across Big W, including its booming marketplace segment, have risen by 1 per cent in the first quarter of FY26, driven by online sales and offset by a small slip in store-originated spending.
Big W’s parent company Woolworths Group confirmed the metrics in a trading update this morning, which shows that total sales across Big W were $1.14 billion in the first quarter, up by $8 million.
Store-originated sales were $1.015 billion, down $2 million compared to the first quarter of FY25 last year.
E-commerce sales, including Big W Market, hit $123 million, up by 12.3 per cent. First-party sales lifted 5.9 per cent to $110 million, with Big W Market sales growing by $8 million to $13 million.
According to Woolworths Group, the total sales for Big W in the first quarter reflected a decline in items of 3.4 per cent “due to the cycling of significant Winter clothing clearance activity in the prior year which was more than offset by average selling price growth from increased full price sales driven by improved quality and weight of Summer stock.”
Across Big W’s four trading segments, clothing sales increased driven by improved availability and a “solid start” to the Summer season aided by warm weather.
Play sales growth was driven by toys which benefitted from new product launches and category expansions. Home growth was supported by improved winter sell-through driven by volume growth in new on-trend homeware ranges at low prices.
Everyday sales decreased driven by increased competition in everyday essentials and party, as well as cycling strong sales growth in cosmetics in the prior year.
The 1 per cent sales lift for Big W added to a total sales lift of 2.7 per cent for Woolworths Group, hitting $18.5 billion. This includes supermarkets across Australia and New Zealand, B2B and the group’s side hustle called Quantium.
“Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic about our key trading quarter and we have strong plans in place for our customers for the festive season including a refreshed seasonal range,” Woolworths Group CEO Amanda Bardwell said. “Woolworths Food Retail sales in Q2 to date have increased by 3.2 per cent (5.0 per cent ex. tobacco) as we continue our focus on rebuilding momentum.
“It will take some time for the full benefits of our strategic actions to be realised but we remain confident the steps we are taking will lead to meaningful improvements for our customers and our shareholders.”
Woolworths Group also shared key customer metrics for Big W, which appear to have remained stable in Q1, with voice of the customer (VoC) and net promoter score (NPS) unchanged from Q4 FY25.
Store-controllable VoC of 83 per cent increased one point on Q4 F25 and was unchanged on the prior year.
Big W’s e-commerce gross transaction value (GTV) increased by 46.3 per cent to $213 million with penetration of 17.3 per cent, primarily driven by the strong growth of Big W Market of 148 per cent.
Big W Market sales were previously reported as part of Woolworths MarketPlus with the change reflecting an integrated marketplace strategy which leverages the significant digital traffic in Big W.
Big W falls under the W Living trading segment, which also includes the now-shuttered MyDeal marketplace. Woolworths Group reported that MyDeal sales were $14 million in the first quarter of FY26 to September 30, which were down 0.9 per cent on the same period last year.