Following today’s release of The Works’ Christmas results for the 11 weeks ending 18 January 2026; Aliyah Siddika, retail analyst at GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, offers her view: “The Works had a broadly neutral Christmas, with LFLs once again overshadowed by severe disruption online. For the 11 weeks to 18 January 2026, total like-for-like sales fell 4.2%. While stores held up well with like-for-like growth of 1.2%, online like-for-like sales fell by a staggering 51.8%, a result that is difficult to look past given the importance of peak trading and the already weak comparative last Christmas (-14.9%). Shares fell by 16% in early trading this morning, though it should be noted that this just reversed the increase in its stock price yesterday.
“Issues with its new fulfilment partner meant that its online capacity was limited through peak trading, but this should not be such an issue in the future, and it has plenty of time to iron out those issues before next Christmas. The challenge for The Works will be to rebuild online demand, having reduced its marketing spend. It should be able to regain most of the online sales it has lost over time but online has never been a major part of its business and its store sales will continue to dominate. The Works remains confident that prioritising further store sales will allow it to remain on track to deliver adjusted EBITDA of £11.0m for FY2025/26.
“The Works strategy centres on being a place where parents can encourage their kids to engage in non-screen-based hobbies, and we think this should resonate well, though it needs to ensure that its stores are as engaging as possible to children not just their parents. The retailer’s estate of over 500 stores supported performance, with strong Black Friday activity, particularly through multi-buy discounts on its books and toy ranges which appears to have resonated and likely helped protect volumes. The retailer targeted promotions towards family shoppers buying gifts for children as its product range naturally lends itself to buying in multiples (small toys, craft kits and books), so multi-buy deals reduce purchase friction and encourage customers to consolidate more of their gifting with one retailer.”
