Dunelm: Savvy shoppers cash in on later winter sales as online purchasing booms
Dunelm shoppers looking to bag a bargain were boosted by a delayed winter sale, with online purchases seeing another post-pandemic bump.
The London-listed retailer reported sales of £432m up from £399m in the same period compared to last year.
Dunelm attributed the moving of its Winter sale into the third quarter – compared to the second – for the performance, saying it “resonated particularly well with our savvy home-loving customers, who took advantage of exceptional quality and value across our categories and price points”.
Amid the cost of living crisis, and with inflation soaring into double figures, millions of Brits have taken to online shopping as an easy way to compare prices and get the best bargains.
Online shopping and click and collect trends continued to prove successful with shoppers, with Dunelm reporting a 36 per cent rise in digital sales up from 35 per cent in 2022.
The business which was founded in Leicester said that it expects gross margin for the full year to be 50 per cent with a lower gross margin in the second half due to its two sale events.
“As we continue to seize the many opportunities we see, we are investing for the long term and making good progress against our plans, which include the ongoing development and extension of our product ranges, building our customer data platform and optimising our marketing channels,” Nick Wilkinson, chief executive of Dunelm said.
He added: “Our core values continue to guide the business and during the quarter we passed the £1m milestone in funds raised for our charity partner, Mind. I am particularly proud of our colleagues’ efforts to support our communities at such an important time.”
It comes as in February, the group reported a 16.6 per cent drop in profits to £117.4m as the end of the Covid house improvement slowly began to dwindle .