Things are looking rosy for Dunelm’s Will Adderley five months after returning to the role of chief executive at the firm founded by his parents.

Dunelm chief executive Will Adderley

The homewares retailer posted a robust set of half-year results this week, which has led the business to set the ambitious goal of growing sales by 50% in the medium term.

Driving this impressive top-line growth is the very reason Adderley was brought back on board after former chief executive Nick Wharton stepped down once he had completed the reorganisation of Dunelm’s infrastructure.

Adderley is a trader at heart and Dunelm non-executive chairman Geoff Cooper, who has worked at retailers including Travis Perkins and Gateway, describes Adderley as “probably the best retailer in the United Kingdom”.

“He has an intuitive feel of what customers want and to walk around a shop with him is an education in retail,” explains Cooper. “He has got a really good feel for product, he can look at it and instantly say how much people are prepared to pay for it.”

No family favours

Despite being the son of Dunelm founders Bill and Jean, the business clearly isn’t playing family favourites as Adderley is not guaranteed the top job at Dunelm in perpetuity. Indeed, in 2011 he assumed the role of deputy executive chairman when Wharton came on board.

Dunelm also said it hired a recruiter to identify an internal or external successor for Wharton and from a short list of 30 the company settled on Adderley.

When - or if - Dunelm hits its target of growing revenues by 50% the board will reconsider Adderley’s position.

“If Will has met those [revenue target] ambitions the board will ask if Will is the right person to continue at that point or whether someone should come in, as every board should do for every company all the time,” says Cooper.

The City appears to have given Adderley a vote of confidence as shares rose on the back of the homewares specialist unveiling its bold ambition to increase revenues by 50% in the medium term.

A passion for business

The passion for the business runs deep in Adderley but despite this Cooper believes Adderley feels no compunction to “prove himself” due to him being the son of the founders.

“Someone wrote a son always has to defeat his father at some point in his life but I don’t see that in Will,” says Cooper. “Will’s drive comes from his passion for business.”

Adderley’s passion for business and Dunelm in particular, where he has worked his whole career, means that he spends most weekends out working and meeting other family members to talk shop. Despite this worth ethic, Adderley still does his best to make time for his wife and kids because he “values his family time very much”, according to Cooper.

This strong sense of family values extends to his employees and Adderley this week told Retail Week he would support a move to the living wage because in his words, “we care for our people”.

Family values

Dunelm has come a long way since its origins as a market stall in Leicester run by Bill Adderley. As it prepares for its next stage of ambitious growth, the mantle has passed on to son Will.

There is no doubting his credentials as an excellent trader, so Dunelm achieving its revenue targets are a safe bet.

After that, Adderley’s fate will lie in the hands of the board and although family ties may stand in his favour, the stark realities of what is best for the business will win the day.

Will Adderley’s CV

  • Adderley has spent his entire career at Dunelm and joined the board in 1992.
  • He took over the day-to-day running of the group from his father in 1996.
  • He remained as chief executive through the group’s IPO in 2006.
  • He later became deputy chairman in February 2011 and was reappointed chief executive in September 2014.