Beter Bed Holding outperforms market trends with strong online growth during mandatory lockdown in Q1 2021

Highlights first quarter:

• Q1 sales amounted to € 48.0 million as a result of mandatory store closures largely offset by strong growth in online sales and excellent performance in Belgium, Sweden and at DBC.
• Impressive performance of online channel due to ongoing investments; online sales accelerated by 252.4% to € 19.7 million, amounting to 41% of total sales.
• Order book on 31 March amounted to € 18.8 million, up 13.4% versus last year. Like-for-like order intake decreased by 14.0% over the first quarter mainly as a result of mandatory store closures.
• Since stores have been reopened for ‘shopping by appointment’ (3 March) order intake has grown by 60.8% over March 2021 compared with a year earlier.
• Well-positioned to benefit from further market growth on the back of increased attention for the role of sleep in well-being.

John Kruijssen, CEO of Beter Bed Holding, comments: "We started 2021 with a vast majority of our stores closed, a situation a retailer cannot get used to. The Group showed its agility by impressively accelerating the online business on the back of a record high order book, and continuing our growth in New Business. InRetail insights show that we have again outperformed the market in the Netherlands, while we continued our strong performance in other markets. January and February were challenging, with 118 stores closed. Nevertheless, we showed an impressive online performance partially offsetting the loss of order intake and recovering around 80%. From March, when ‘shopping by appointment’ was allowed, order intake was immediately at pre-COVID levels, showing an impressive 60.8% growth against 2020. A full recovery of order intake in March and an even higher order book at the end of Q1 against 2020 was the outcome, putting us in a strong position when the stores start to reopen again. The journey continues in ensuring customers can shop and colleagues can work safely at Beter Bed Holding locations as COVID-19 is still determining our lives and behaviours. At the same time we continue to further implement our strategy which relentlessly focusses on providing customers with products and services to improve the quality of sleep, in all markets and circumstances.”

For the complete version of the press release please click on the link under attachment(s).

Press photos can be downloaded here.

Attachment

• press release 16-04-2021