Dunelm has reported its financial results for the first quarter, ended 28 September, 2024.
Sales for the period were £403m, an increase of 3.5% year-on-year, with sales growth driven by volume and compared to a strong period in the previous year. Digital sales growth was also strong, up 2ppts as a proportion of total sales to 37%.
Gross margin for the quarter increased by 20bps year-on-year, with prices broadly stable. The group continues to expect gross margin for FY25 to be between 51 and 52%.
Sales were strong across a wide range of categories. Dunelm also delivered its biggest student campaign with a more stylish assortment and an attractive student discount.
During the quarter, Dunelm announced its first inner London store, which it hopes will help it to connect with more customers across its total retail system. It has also improved its click and collect proposition with over half of SKUs on dunelm.com now available for in-store collection.
Nick Wilkinson, ceo, commented: “We have delivered robust sales growth over the first quarter, offering a wide range of products for the home, at outstanding value, and this continues to resonate with new and existing customers. As ever, relevance is central to our offer and we were delighted by the success of our largest student campaign yet, which was well received by customers seeking out bright and stylish designs.
“We continue to make good progress against our strategic plans. Later this year, we will bring our specialist proposition to inner London for the first time, opening at Westfield London. We’re excited about this and our wider opening programme, with five to ten new superstores planned per year over the medium term.
“Whilst we are yet to see meaningful change in underlying consumer sentiment in our markets, we remain focused on our plans. We believe we have continued to gain market share and, with continued strategic progress, remain confident in our ability to reach our next market share milestone of 10% in the medium term.”
