Jane Norman sets web target

Jane Norman has set a bullish £20 million sales target for its web business

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Young fashion retailer Jane Norman has set a bullish £20 million sales target for its web business by 2010.

The retailer launched its transactional website four weeks ago and has already notched up average sales of £100,000 a week without any marketing support.

Jane Norman said it expected to achieve online sales of £6m by this time next year, when it will have launched a marketing push and invested in search engine optimisation to drive traffic to its site. Chief executive Saj Shah said he expected to be turning over £20m online within three to four years.

In addition, the retailer is thought to have broken through the £30m EBITDA barrier for the year to March 2008 in accounts that have yet to be filed at Companies House. This is up from £29.3m a year earlier.

Jane Norman has consistently recorded year-on-year sales growth of about 10% in recent years thanks to its focus on its niche customer base.

However, Shah said sales were down 6% for the three months to June. "It's tough and it's the first time in a long time we have seen a downturn. The younger customer is dependent on their parents' income and that is where we have been hit. It will come back though, and we can easily make it up in December."