Matalan cuts prices of hundreds of items as costs come down

Fashion and homeware chain Matalan is lowering the prices of hundreds of its products after revealing it has made savings elsewhere in the business.

The lower-cost retailer said it is investing £35 million in cutting the prices of more than 700 products.

Average prices will fall by 15% across its everyday family essentials – which include clothes and furnishings.

Some items will be slashed by up to a quarter as part of the price reductions, with the changes launching online and in-store.

For example, women’s hoodies have been cut from £15 to £12.50 and boys’ hoodies from £13 to £10, while a pair of men’s straight cut jeans are £10, down from £11.

Matalan said the move has been made possible by reducing costs in other parts of the business.

Input costs, meaning what it has to pay suppliers for products and to run its shops, have come down and inflation has slowed.

A new senior management team appointed last year has also overseen a change to its buying and sourcing strategy, allowing it to save more money.

Jo Whitfield, CEO of Matalan, said: "The start of the year is always a tough time financially and this year, given how difficult 2023 was for so many families, it’ll be harder than ever. So, for 2024 we want to start the year off differently.

"We’ve unlocked efficiencies at a time when inflation and input costs are starting to fall, enabling us to pass these savings on directly to our customers – bringing down the prices of new and existing lines of everyday essentials and favourites across all our key categories."

Whitfield became Matalan’s chief executive last year, having previously headed Co-op’s food business.

Matalan has more than 270 stores in the UK and overseas.