Park sees more turn to savings scheme

The firm, based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, said the number of customers using its savings scheme last Christmas, increased by 2.5 per cent to 410,000 and the average order per customer rose 7 per cent to £401.

The scheme allows customers to make monthly instalments to pay for vouchers or a variety of gifts including hampers, or packs of confectionery and meat.

This helped operating profits rise 30 per cent to £5.6m in the year to March 31, on revenues up 6 per cent to £279.9m.

Early indications for next Christmas were “most encouraging”, with customer numbers up 4.3 per cent on the previous year, it added.

The popularity of its Christmas savings scheme has been boosted by allowing consumers to order online. Consumers have already placed orders worth £93m for Christmas via its website, it said.

A spokesman said: “In a tough economic environment people find the discipline of saving regularly for Christmas a big help, particularly as they want to make sure they can provide for their family and friends.”

The strong performances of its Christmas savings scheme suggest it has not been affected by the collapse of rival Farepak in 2006, which left 150,000 savers around £40m out of pocket and dented confidence in the sector.