The retail winners of the Interiors Monthly Awards, as voted by readers of the magazine, have been revealed.
The winners are:
Best Flooring Retailer (1-3 stores): Pauls Floors
Best Furniture Retailer (1-3 stores): Lukehurst
Best Flooring Retailer (4+ stores): Flooring Superstore
Best Furniture Retailer (4+ stores): DFS Group
Best Online Retailer: Made.com
Paul and Claire Southworth opened Pauls Floors in Flixton, Manchester in 2013. A Carpet Foundation member, customer service is at its heart, as is clear from its five-star reviews. ‘From start to finish an excellent service. Very knowledgeable and offered great advice and solutions for flooring and helped us choose a luxury vinyl tile (something we hadn’t thought about)’; ‘Very impressed with Pauls Floors the whole way though our “journey” to our new living-room floor. We visited on a busy Saturday morning, and were given excellent advice on which flooring would be best for our needs. Once we decided on Karndean, Paul came and give us what turned out to be an extremely competitive quote. We are very pleased with how it looks, and are already planning to get Karndean in our hallway.’
On 16 October 1970 Gerald Lukehurst opened the first Lukehurst store in Sittingbourne, after 25 years as manager of John Peters Furniture in the Kent town. Fast-forward half a century and his son Martin runs the three-store company with his daughter Kathryn. In addition to Sittingbourne, it has its flagship store and a flooring and furnishing branch in nearby Rainham. ‘I’m incredibly proud that our independent family business is still going from strength to strength 50 years after we started trading. I’m sure the key to our success is the continued family commitment to the business, with our passion for retailing and determination to maintain our reputation by providing customers with quality products, expert knowledge and high levels of customer service,’ says Martin. A 4,000sqft mezzanine at the Sittingbourne branch was unveiled in April.
At a time when the sustainability of bricks-and-mortar stores has been questioned, especially with the surge in online shopping, Flooring Superstore has pressed on with its expansion, reaching 35 branches. Outlets in Glasgow, Stevenage, Cheltenham and Preston are next on the schedule. ‘Our strategy is built on opening in large conurbations and on busy retail parks with high footfall, where we can make our own contribution to the local economy in these areas,’ says Chris Barber, Flooring Superstore chief retail officer.
DFS has been a notable beneficiary of the boom in furniture sales since non-essential retail re-opened in April. Orders in the 10 weeks to 6 June were 92.1% up on 2019, and 14% higher for the 23-week period. The group estimates it gained more than 2% of market share in a growing market and expects profits of at least £105m for the year. The strong order intake will also provide a significant profit boost for 2022. Key for the group has been its online performance while stores were closed: but this is not a new factor. DFS has been successfully developing its online strategy for some time and has seen an average annual sales increase of 28% in the past five years.
2021 saw Made.com become an international player, with 48% of sales coming from continental Europe. By the end of the first quarter, its active customers had leapt 40% on Q1 2020 to 1.165million, with gross average orders rising to £235, despite the proportionof homewares sales increasing to 28%. Repeat orders among UK customers continue to rise, from 44% in 2018 to 50% earlier this year. With Q1 sales reaching more than a third of 2020’s £315m, the company floated on the stock exchange in June, raising £100m and valuing Made.com at £775m.
To read more information on the winners,CLICK HEREto read or download the August issue.
