Furniture Village hit by ‘fragile economic backdrop’ as sales falter

A fall in customers visiting both its stores and website hit sales at Furniture Village during its latest financial year.

The Berkshire-headquartered has posted a revenue of £358.7m for the 12 months to July 2, 2023, while its pre-tax profits toasted £7.5m.

Those figures compare to the revenue of £474.9m and pre-tax profits of £13.6m the company posted for the 66 weeks to July 3, 2022.

The longer period was because Furniture Village altered its financial year.

In its latest accounts filed with Companies House, the business said it had been impacted by the same challenging economic environment that other retailers are also facing.

During the year the average number of people employed by Furniture Village decreased from 1,243 to 1,207.

Furniture Village: “There will always be a market”

A statement signed off by the board said: “Whilst we are a product led and marketing driven business, our people and our customers remain at the heart of everything we do.

“Our culture is firmly rooted in our core ‘family values’ carefully positioned alongside an ambition to continue building a successful, growing business, one in which everyone has a desire to do well and can share in the rewards of their efforts.

“The ongoing investment in our people, our stores, our digital capability and importantly our product offer, even throughout the recent Covid disrupted years, has certainly produced a stronger, more agile, and more united business.

“External trading conditions will vary from time to time through economic cycles, but we always have to continue to take the view that there will always be a market and that we are well placed to take advantage of all trading opportunities, whatever external conditions exist.”

“We are confident, but not arrogant”

On its future, Furniture Village said: “Whilst inflation has reduced over the past few months, a fragile economic backdrop continues as interest rates remain high and pressures persist on the disposable incomes of most consumers.

“The more testing trading environment experienced last year has therefore continued, and in line with many retail sectors, particularly big-ticket, we too have experienced a slowing in footfall into stores and traffic online.

“Despite this, we have continued to trade strongly with improved conversion rates helping to mitigate the reduced customer flow.”

It added: “Whilst we will always adopt a cautious and considered approach, at the same time we remain an ambitious business and so set our stall out to take additional market share to compensate for that more challenging environment.

“We are confident, but not arrogant, in the appeal of our offer and more importantly in the capacity and appetite of our people to continue to respond with skill, enthusiasm, determination and the resoluteness required to meet a more cautious market.”