Dreams has reported ecommerce sales up by more than a third in its latest financial year – and says it will launch a new digital store format in coming months.
Online sales at the bed company, a Top350 retailer in IRUK Top500 research, helped boost overall sales to £280m in the year to December 24, 20% more than the previous financial year. Like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of store openings and closures, rose by 14.1%. Pre-tax profits of £32m were 136% up on last year.
The retailer trades online at dreams.co.uk and through 181 stores – and invested in both over the last year. It said investment in its digital offer had resulted in 16.7m website visits over the period. A mobile ‘sleep matters’ app was launched last May to provide customers with sleep analysis and recommendations.
It opened 14 new stores while refurbishing the final 10 stores in its estate. It now plans to launch a new store concept, as well as a new digital store format, in the year ahead. Dreams also said it had been awarded “most recommended bed company” by Trustpilot, with a rating of 9.4 out of a possible 10.
Dreams chief executive Mike Logue said 2016 had been a “pivotal year” for Dreams. “Our significant investment, matched by the incredible efforts of our 1850 colleagues across the UK in our factory, our 181 shops and our delivery centres have enabled us to achieve these record results.”
He added: “We attribute this performance to our continued determination to make, sell and deliver the most comfortable beds, provide market leading quality, value and choice and to always put our customers first. I want to thank everyone at Dreams for their passion, hard work and dedication over the year.
“Whilst potential future challenges to the UK consumer economy are well documented, we are confident that we will continue to successfully execute our strategy and that it will be another year of significant progress for Dreams.”
