Online sales surge as BCF reports 50% revenue increase in first half of year

Australia’s leading supplier of fishing tackle reported a 50.8% increase in sales for the first half of its financial year.

The Boating Camping Fishing (BCF) retail chain – owned by the Super Retail Group – also reported online sales of $51m – up 113% compared to the same period last year – as consumers changed their buying habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital now accounts for 12% of its total sales, which came in at $427.7m compared to $283.5m in the first half of 2019/20.

BCF reported like-for-like growth in all categories with camping, boating and apparel delivering the strongest performances. Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales were the best performing states. During the period, BCF opened two stores and now operates out of 141 outlets across the country.

As a group, Super Retail delivered a record first half of the year performance, with sales up 23.1% to $1,776.3m ($1,443.5m). Overall, online sales were up 87.3% to $237.4m, representing 13.3% of total sales.

The group added that the momentum has continued into the second half of the year – particularly at BCF – with like-for-like sales up 30.5% in the first seven weeks of H2.