Furniture retailer DFS was founded in 1969, as specialists in sofas and soft furnishings. It has since extended its presence in the UK to around 115 DFS stores following its flotation in 2015. It is also active through the Dwell, Sofa Workshop and Sofology brands, having acquired the latter towards the end of 2017 to bolster its omnichannel credentials. In recent years, it has made its first international moves by expanding into Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. The DFS Group is embarking on a digitally led strategy to position the business for future growth. It is investing in its web platform and customer engagement tools, including new augmented reality visualisation tools and ‘chatbots’, while it is also leveraging the scale and expertise of the wider group to boost efficiency across all areas of the business. In addition to strong promotional and core DFS ranges, the retailer has exclusive partnerships with aspirational brands including House Beautiful, Joules and French Connection, to target different customer types.
DFS has slumped to a full-year loss exacerbated by declining sales following the coronavirus lockdown, but has said that customer demand since reopening has been high.
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Furniture Village and DFS are both planning to reopen stores in time for the bank holiday weekend.
DFS has raised £64m in its equity fundraising round, which the furniture retailer said will give the business headroom should the lockdown last “to December 2020”.
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