Irish department store group Brown Thomas Arnotts is considering launching its Planet Beauty concept for younger customers online as a stand-alone brand.
Beauty accounts for a quarter of the retailer’s overall revenues and has been a key part of its growth in the past few years. The company launched its Planet Beauty concept at its then-new Dundrum store in February 2022 to attract Gen Z customers (14- to 29-year-olds).
Brown Thomas Arnotts chief executive Donald McDonald said: “We have a Planet Beauty sub-brand of Brown Thomas within six of our seven stores. And we’re now looking at offering it as a separate digital offering in the marketplace in the next 12 months. We’re working on that as a project.
“We’re seeing 20-25 per cent growth year on year [in Planet Beauty], which is emerging beauty. We’re very focused on being close to the market and driving trends.
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“It will be Planet Beauty by Brown Thomas Arnotts next year ... and we want to launch it to support the physical retail. It’s a testament to the success of the concept to have a stand-alone digital offering. It will be a separate shop front online.”
McDonald said the initiative would involve investment of €2 million-plus.
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Brown Thomas Arnotts’ digital store gross revenues exceeded €100 million for the first time last year, representing growth of 10 per cent on a year earlier. McDonald expects it to achieve “close to double-digit growth” again this year.
Accounts just lodged for Brown Thomas Arnotts Ltd show that the group recorded revenues of €344.9 million for the 52 weeks to January 3rd, 2026. This compared with turnover of €319.3 million for a 48-week period to January 4th, 2025. That shorter financial year was to align the Irish company with its parent group.
On a like-for-like basis, revenues last year rose by 3 per cent.
Profit after tax amounted to €23.5 million, up from €17.5 million previously, or an increase of 40 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
The Irish retailer paid a dividend of €10 million to its parent, the UK-based Selfridges group, which is 60 per cent owned by the Central Group in Thailand with the balance held by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Brown Thomas Arnotts closed the financial year with cash reserves of €146 million.
On current trading, given the cost-of-living pressures in the economy, McDonald said: “Business is strong. All of our physical retail stores were either flat or up on last year. Arnotts was flat. But there are some very strong green shoots for it that we’ve noticed in the last couple of months with the opening of Sports Direct in the old Debenhams [on Henry Street] and Zara are going to be open in November with the third-biggest Zara in Europe when it opens. They’re taking the whole lower ground floor in Debenhams. And we’ve done a lot of work in the store.”
McDonald said the group had invested €4 million-plus over a three-year period to refresh Arnotts, which will be completed by November 2027.
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“All of the home categories are moving to the top floor, and two brands that will be new to Dublin are opening there. They’re almost over the line. And we’ve just opened Joe & The Juice, which has been a huge success.”
McDonald said the customer footfall at Arnotts (which was acquired by the Selfridges group in late 2015) is “very strong” at almost six million people a year, some 50 per cent more than that of the Brown Thomas flagship store on Grafton Street.
While he is expecting an increase in revenues and profits this year, McDonald said a lot will depend on the Christmas shopping season, with trading in December accounting for about 20 per cent of turnover.
“We’re always nervous at this time of the year. But the planning has been meticulous. We think it will go well.”
Brown Thomas Arnotts had 1,467 employees last year, with its total payroll costs rising by 8 per cent to €69.7 million. Directors’ remuneration was €1.6 million, up from €1.4 million a year earlier.
