The Fragrance Shop, the UK's leading independent fragrance retailer, has enjoyed another buoyant trading year, with like-for-like sales increasing by 5%.

In total, sales increased by 11.9% on continuing store activities on a comparative 52 week period, with trade boosted by a range of big-ticket scents and an ongoing expansion programme.

The Manchester-based retailer, which operates 183 stores nationwide, said total consolidated net sales rose to £112m, underpinned by a strong like-for-like performance of 5% and its continued expansion in its store portfolio. In addition, the retailer’s ecommerce sales rose by 34% year-on-year. Underlying group profitability (EBITDA) rose by 7.6% to £15.1m and net profit increased by 16.3% to £10.2m.

Sanjay Vadera (pictured), Chief Executive of The Fragrance Shop, says: “We have achieved outstanding like-for-like sales growth for another year as a result of listening to our customers and giving them what they are asking for; an expanding range of accessibly-priced luxury fragrances, being first to market with exclusives, the best possible retail experience and an expanding store portfolio.

"This year we will continue to expand our store portfolio and are on track to open our 200th store, alongside a concession store format in partnership with House of Fraser across 28 sites. We will also unveil our new ‘scentaddict’ subscription service, currently in BETA testing, which will allow customers to try luxury scents monthly with no commitment. Early indications have shown us that new launches will perform positively for us in 2018, such as Missguided’s debut scent Babe Power, which has been the fastest selling debut female fragrance this year."

The customer retail experience and staff training are incredibly important to The Fragrance Shop, with continued investment to ensuring their customers receive the very best service and knowledge from team members.  The company recently received a 5.8 customer satisfaction score in a shopper service carried out by independent review body Feefo.