With more people spending money on their homes during lockdown, the good news for the gift and home industry is that the housewares sector has flourished, with the Dunelm Group seeing strong sales during July and August.
Partly due to pent up demand following store closures during lockdown, as well as the timing of its summer sale, total year on year sales growth was up 59% in July and up 24% in August.
“This performance reflects the strength of our proposition within a resilient homewares market, positive footfall growth to our mainly out-of-town superstores and continued strong growth in our home delivery offer,” stated Dunelm’s chief financial officer Laura Carr.
She said that while the year to date performance had been materially ahead of initial expectations it was difficult to provide any meaningful guidance on the future outlook, given the uncertainty in the wider economy and the potential impact of further regional or national lockdowns. However, she said the company remained confident in its ability to adapt to the environment and that it is well positioned to grow market share.
Dunelm will be providing a more detailed update as part of its preliminary results announcement on September 10, 2020.
Top: Dunelm’s out-of-town superstores have experienced positive footfall.
