Store retailing is not all doom and gloom as attested by Dunelm as its half year sales to December 28th rose by 6 per cent to £585 million with pre-tax profit up by 19.4 per cent to £84.9 million. The business attributes its success to NOT taking part in Black Friday or any other pre-Christmas promotions as well as its focus on reducing costs.
“The third has started well, with a successful Winter Sale across the total retail system,” said Nick Wilkinson, Dunelm CEO. “As a result, we expect full year FY20 profit before tax to be slightly ahead of the latest range of analyst expectations.” He added that the business is monitoring the coronavirus outbreak and is currently not assuming that there will be any significant disruption to its supply chain.
The business is also set to trial a new smaller format high street store which, at 5000sq.ft., will offer an edited range. If successful this could potentially become the blueprint for expansion into towns where Dunelm is not currently represented but which do not warrant a superstore. The Dunelm team is also adding 6000 new lines to its online offering which has received a significant boost virtue of the new website it launched back in October.
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