Following today’s release of Moonpig’s figures for Q3, FY2022/23; Tash Van Boxel, retail analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view: “Having undergone a challenging festive period in H1 FY2022/23, Moonpig appears to be getting back on its feet following a promising Q3 performance driven by successful Mother’s Day trading. Moonpig recorded its best week of sales in the UK in the lead up to Mother’s Day as consumers flocked online to find whimsical cards and flowers to send to their female relatives. The expansion of its gifting proposition undoubtedly contributed to Moonpig’s strong Mother’s Day trading, with shoppers able to shop a range of food & drink and homewares gifts to send to loved ones, alongside physical and digital cards. The online pureplay must continue to develop and add to its gifting range to boost revenue further through sales of bigger-ticket items, such as hampers. However, Moonpig’s expected annual revenue for FY2022/23 remains unchanged at £320m, as Mother’s Day sales were unable to offset its sluggish start to the financial year.
“Although initially lowering its adjusted EBITDA for the year by £0.4m to £34.6m in December, Moonpig does not expect this to decrease further and the online pureplay expects to report revenue growth in its next financial year. This will be driven by H2 sales, likely due to improved macroeconomic conditions and stronger consumer finances as inflation continues to decrease. It will be vital for Moonpig to use events such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, which fall in its H2 trading period, to further drive this growth. To capitalise on these events next year, Moonpig must focus on promoting gifting and its personalised card selection, with 53.3% of consumers stating that they personalised their cards for Valentine’s Day in 2023, according to GlobalData’s Valentine’s Day report 2023, with this trend likely to be seen in other occasions, such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Despite Moonpig’s optimism for FY2023/24, the online channel is likely to struggle in the coming year as consumers continue to return to stores, so Moonpig must invest in marketing campaigns to drive consumers to browse for and purchase their cards and gifts online.”
