Shares in Laybuy Holdings Ltd (ASX: LBY) gained today before falling flat after the company announced record sales from its 'Laybuy Mania' event. At the time of writing, the Laybuy share price is trading 1.16% lower at 85 cents.
In earlier trade, however, the company's shares reached as high as 89 cents apiece before retreating.
Let's take a closer look at the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company's latest news.
Laybuy Mania
The Laybuy share price is failing to ignite despite the company reporting a bumper Mania event in the last week of April. Laybuy reported that the event delivered record sales for the platform across the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.
The sales event is run twice a year, with merchants offering discounts for 24 hours in Australia and New Zealand, and 48 hours in the United Kingdom.
April's was the first Mania event of 2021. It resulted in Laybuy processing a total of NZ$4.8 million worth of sales.
Shoppers in the United Kingdom spent NZ$2.9 million over 48 hours – 70% more than during the April 2020 Mania event and 32% more than the November 2020 event.
In Australia and New Zealand, shoppers spent NZ$1.9 million during the one-day event, an increase of 3% and 11% on the April and November events, respectively.
The event also saw Laybuy's second-largest sales day in terms of gross merchandise value. Merchants including Cotton On, JD Sports, and Boohoo reported their biggest trading day on the platform to date.
The platform's traffic was also up 35% compared to the same event held in November 2020, with 207% more traffic than an average Thursday. Unfortunately, the upbeat news has not been sufficient to boost the Laybuy share price so far today.
Management commentary
Laybuy managing director Gary Rohloff commented that events like Laybuy Mania have been important to the company's strategy since 2018. Rohloff said:
Mania helps improve our appeal to merchants by helping them increase their sales. Of real value is our collaborative marketing approach, which sees the active promotion of discounts through both the merchant and Laybuy's marketing channels.
Laybuy Mania has contributed to another month of growth for Laybuy, with GMV up 52% on April 2020.
Laybuy share price snapshot
Laybuy shares have not been having the best time on the ASX lately. Unfortunately, the company's shares seem to have been caught up in the recent US-driven tech sell-off and haven't been able to recover.
Currently, the Laybuy share price is down 35% year to date. It's also down by around 59% over the last 12 months.
The company has a market capitalisation of around $150 million, with approximately 174 million shares outstanding.
