By guest author Sahar Nazir from Retail Gazette
- Mountain Warehouse CEO mulls job cuts after Covid-19 outbreak impacts sales
- The retailer is now in a “battle for survival”
Mountain Warehouse chief executive Mark Neale has warned that redundancies are likely after the retailer experienced a “catastrophic” drop in sales from the coronavirus outbreak.
The outdoor clothing and equipment retailer posted a 22nd consecutive year of record Christmas sales in January, after total sales for the 13-week period ending December 29 surged 16.2 % year-on-year to GBP 95.8 million.
However, Neale said Mountain Warehouse is now in a “battle for survival” following a recent sales drop.
Consequently, Neale called for the government to take “urgent” and “enormous” action to help businesses around the country.
He added that he expects low footfall to worsen following the government’s new advice against large public gatherings.
Neale told Radio 4’s Today programme that Mountain Warehouse’s sales “completely evaporated” since Thursday and Friday last week.
On March 16, 2020, sales were down 50 %, and Neale expected things to worsen in the coming days.
Mountain Warehouse operates nearly 400 stores across nine countries.