Beds retailer Mattress Online has reported a decline in sales as cost-of-living crisis weakened consumer demand.

According to its latest filed accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023, total sales fell 18.1% to £23.5m from £28.7m in 2022. Pre-tax profit resulted at £0.4m, down from £2.1m recorded in the previous year.

Stated within its report, the company said that despite the year-on-year sales fall, revenues had increased by 55.6% over the last five years when sales stood at £15.1m in 2019, with gross margin remaining strong at 45.6%.

During the year, Mattress Online successfully migrated to a new e-commerce website, developed and managed in-house. The results demonstrate a “sustained increase in conversion rates and average transaction value”.

Furthermore, the business expanded its workforce by 28% and reached 60,000+ Trustpilot reviews with a sustained 4.8/5 Excellent rating.

Commenting on the results, Steve Adams, CEO, said: “We’ve seen a considerable shift in online consumer spending following the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the cost-of-living crisis further reduced consumer demand through our financial year ending May 2023.

“During the year we invested heavily in people, benefits and training and significantly in web development. A step to control unprofitable paid acquisition marketing costs was a strategic decision in a challenging consumer market, where we actively avoided the melee of ‘buying business’.

“We’re pleased to have retained market share following on from the pandemic and maintain a solid position. Whilst we envisage a continued challenging trading environment for H1 2024 we continue to invest in future growth and the impact of our strategic work in 2023 will hopefully be seen as we continue into 2024.”