Beds specialist Bensons for Beds has recorded a sales uplift from its revamped stores after completing its £1 million makeover of its 220-strong portfolio.
The retailer has reported a “single-digit uplift” between the end of September and the end of October in its divan beds range, against the same time last year when the retailer recorded a “low single-digit decrease”.
Bensons for Beds managing director Bill Carrahar said divan bed sales account for about a third of the business. “While it’s difficult to tell in this context it seems to be working for us,” he said.
The store revamp involved displaying fewer beds and simplifying layout in an attempt to eliminate shoppers’ confusion about the various brands.
Carrahar said the revamp had been financed jointly by the retailer and key suppliers such as Relyon, Sealy, Silentnight and Kingsdown. He said that traditionally manufacturers have not invested in branding at the consumer end.
As a result of this shoppers lacked information to make informed choices and so “approached the process of buying a bed with trepidation”.
Carrahar said trade continued to be challenging as the retailer is a volume-driven business, but added: “For the moment we’ve gone as far as we need to trim overheads and cut costs, and now we’ll be concentrating on driving sales.”
He said that a weakened pound had resulted in pressure on margins, particularly on bed frames, which tend to be imported from the Far East, but it had renegotiated terms with suppliers to insulate itself “to an extent”.
In this year’s Boxing Day Sale, Bensons for Beds will launch new bed frames to boost that area of its business.
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