Dutch bed retail group Beter Bed has reported a mixed third quarter with overall sales down but a boom in online.

According to its latest Q3 trading update, total sales amounted to €54.4m, down -3.7% against Q3 2021 but up +4.7% on Q2 2022. This has resulted in YTD sales of €166.7m, an increase of +8.5%.

Online sales were up 4.5% in Q3, leading to a channel share of 17.2% and YTD channel share of 18.9%, while market share increased by 9.6%.

Like-for-Like order intake Q3 down by 10%, mainly due to strong comparison base during COVID, soft weather and uncertain economic outlook, resulting in an increased order book of €19.9m, up +2.7% against 30 June 2022.

Financing facility increased to €30m (with Rabobank joining ABN AMRO) to support further implementation of strategic plan and pursue potential opportunities

John Kruijssen, CEO of BBH, comments: “During the pandemic, the attention for the importance of sleep has definitely increased. We have worked hard to sharpen our offering, strengthen our brand, optimise our store network and improve our online offering.

“While we diligently execute our strategic plan towards 2025, we see that our customers recognise the steps we are taking and appreciate our ‘Sleep better, live better’ philosophy. Although the third quarter has shown a decline in order intake, mainly due to the strong comparison base during COVID, the soft weather and the uncertain economic outlook, our market share and NPS have grown significantly and our order book has further increased.

“We continue to adjust and strengthen our proposition, and we are proud to have achieved an average sales growth over the last three years of 10 %, and 8.5% year to date. We are in full implementation mode of our strategic plan, and we have secured additional funding to support the further rollout. We expect that the retail sector will be further impacted by the high inflation and low consumer spending, but remain confident about our positioning and business model for the longer term.”