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Selfridges has blamed a slump in the number of international tourists shopping for luxury goods in the UK and weaker consumer confidence for a fall in annual sales, as the retailer racked up losses for a fifth year in a row.
The upmarket department store chain reported a 7% decline in sales in the 48 weeks to 4 January 2025 to £775m compared with £835m recorded over the 53 weeks of its previous year.
Losses narrowed to nearly £16m from almost £42m the previous year but the group has not made a pre-tax profit since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic forced shops to close their doors for months at a time.
Selfridges Group has four stores in the UK, including its flagship on Oxford Street in central London, two shops in Manchester and one in Birmingham, alongside its online operations.
The retailer said it was suffering from the impact of the axing of tax-free shopping for tourists, which it said had made the UK a less attractive destination for wealthy visitors looking for luxury handbags, clothing and watches.
Retailers have previously said US or Asian shoppers are more likely to buy such items in European cities such as Paris and Milan rather than London since the tax changes.
It said sales last year were also knocked by rises in the price of luxury goods, at the same time as consumers were facing cost of living pressures.
Inflation and higher energy costs led to customers keeping a tighter hold on their wallets, “undermining consumer confidence to spend on luxuries and non-essential items”, according to the company’s annual accounts.
Selfridges was founded in London by the American businessman Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1909 and has been named the best department store in the world four times. The retailer’s London store is a well-known tourist attraction, where it puts on themed shopping events and creative displays as well as offering fine dining and selling designer goods.
The company’s most recent results cover the period where a stake in the department store chain was bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. The Saudi Public Investment Fund said in October 2024 it had signed a deal to buy a 40% stake in Selfridges for an undisclosed sum, adding Selfridges Group to its holdings in a string of other luxury department stores around the world.
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The stake was previously owned by Signa Group, the Austrian property company that bought Selfridges with the Thai conglomerate Central Group for £4bn in 2021. Central Group subsequently took full control last year, after Signa filed for insolvency.
Christmas is a little under three months away and Selfridges and other retailers are gearing up for the crucial festive trading season.
The company has said its Christmas shop windows, unveiled in November, will have a Disney theme, as part of a tie-up with the entertainment company, while it has already launched a Christmas store, selling gifts including hampers costing from £85 to £600.
