Our vision is to lead furniture retailing in the digital age, and we pursue this through our "Pillars and Platforms" strategy which will unlock new categories of growth, whilst leveraging our proven and leading upholstery market made‑to‑order model advantages.
The growth of our three pillar brands DFS, Sofology and our expansion into the non-upholstery market with Home will be enabled by our four Group platforms: sourcing and manufacturing, technology and data, people and culture and The Sofa Delivery Company logistics platform.
The strategy reflects the Group’s expertise and scale and the ability to utilise our enabling platforms to improve operational efficiency and growth across our brand portfolio.
With 115 showrooms in the UK and Ireland and a market-leading website, the DFS brand has the sector-leading integrated retail proposition.
DFS has a unique and differentiated sofa offering. Our innovation team is focused on developing new customer propositions and we have a growing portfolio of exclusive partnerships with a number of leading lifestyle brands which allow us to provide all our customers with a broad range of products.
A key element of our strategy is to drive the growth of the brand through developing new services to engage customers, enhancing our range and unique product offer, and continued development of a seamless omni-channel customer journey.
With 58 showrooms across the UK, Sofology has grown into a distinctive and complementary brand within the Group. Its strong brand identity and growing presence provides a solid foundation for scalable growth, with a medium-term target of 65 – 70 showrooms. This physical footprint is supported by a content-rich retail website that enhances customer engagement and drives omni-channel performance.
Sofology appeals to the aspirational, design conscious consumer seeking to elevate their homes, and is recognised for its high-quality and stylish designs. The in-house design team prides itself on innovation, consistently delivering accessible products that combine form, function and emotional appeal – creating that "everyday special" experience for customers.
The brand is well positioned for further growth through continued showroom expansion, ongoing product innovation and further enhancement of its digital proposition. We see significant headroom for further market share gains, particularly as consumers seek trusted, design-led brands in a fragmented furniture market.
We see our expansion into the non-upholstery Home market1 as a key growth lever for the Group, increasing the Group's target addressable market by £5bn.
We see the £3bn beds and mattresses segment as having significant market adjacency and attractiveness to the Group and this is where we will initially focus. We know that existing customers are twice as likely to consider us than those who haven’t shopped with us before; therefore, we see a big opportunity to cross-sell. We have the ability to utilise our existing Group platforms such as our exclusive brand partnerships, sourcing and manufacturing capabilities, logistics platform, marketing expertise and Intelligent Lending Platform to help us achieve our ambition of growing our share to 4% in this attractive market.
1. Non-upholstery Home market: beds and mattresses, dining and other living room furniture.
With 115 showrooms in the UK and Ireland and a market-leading website, the DFS brand has the sector-leading integrated retail proposition.
DFS has a unique and differentiated sofa offering. Our innovation team is focused on developing new customer propositions and we have a growing portfolio of exclusive partnerships with a number of leading lifestyle brands which allow us to provide all our customers with a broad range of products.
A key element of our strategy is to drive the growth of the brand through developing new services to engage customers, enhancing our range and unique product offer, and continued development of a seamless omni-channel customer journey.
With 58 showrooms across the UK, Sofology has grown into a distinctive and complementary brand within the Group. Its strong brand identity and growing presence provides a solid foundation for scalable growth, with a medium-term target of 65 – 70 showrooms. This physical footprint is supported by a content-rich retail website that enhances customer engagement and drives omni-channel performance.
Sofology appeals to the aspirational, design conscious consumer seeking to elevate their homes, and is recognised for its high-quality and stylish designs. The in-house design team prides itself on innovation, consistently delivering accessible products that combine form, function and emotional appeal – creating that "everyday special" experience for customers.
The brand is well positioned for further growth through continued showroom expansion, ongoing product innovation and further enhancement of its digital proposition. We see significant headroom for further market share gains, particularly as consumers seek trusted, design-led brands in a fragmented furniture market.
We see our expansion into the non-upholstery Home market1 as a key growth lever for the Group, increasing the Group's target addressable market by £5bn.
We see the £3bn beds and mattresses segment as having significant market adjacency and attractiveness to the Group and this is where we will initially focus. We know that existing customers are twice as likely to consider us than those who haven’t shopped with us before; therefore, we see a big opportunity to cross-sell. We have the ability to utilise our existing Group platforms such as our exclusive brand partnerships, sourcing and manufacturing capabilities, logistics platform, marketing expertise and Intelligent Lending Platform to help us achieve our ambition of growing our share to 4% in this attractive market.
1. Non-upholstery Home market: beds and mattresses, dining and other living room furniture.
We utilise data and technology to drive insight, innovation and better decision making. Our ambition for our data platforms is to unlock new growth for our brands and to drive operational efficiencies in our cost base. We have made significant progress over the last three years in simplifying how we store, access and connect data and gain insight through developing a data hub that sources data from around 85 sources.
A good example of how we are utilising data is in The Sofa Delivery Company where we have powerful dashboards that enable us to drill down in detail, for instance to individual van crews to drive performance. Other examples include the development of our Intelligent Lending Platform (which reduces the time to serve customers and allows complete-at-home functionality and soft credit searches), our workforce optimisation planning tool (that predicts footfall weeks ahead, enabling optimal staffing levels to increase conversion) and our Apollo logistics planning tool (that uses advanced algorithms to optimise fleet utilisation and minimise distances travelled, fuel consumption and reliance on third-party delivery partners).
Our Group logistics platform, The Sofa Delivery Company, was launched in June 2021, with the objective of providing the best delivery service in the market for our customers and our colleagues. This involved merging our DFS and Sofology delivery networks into a single combined network, improving the service for our customers as well as providing cost efficiency savings. The Sofa Delivery Company is now the largest two person sofa delivery company in the UK. It delivers for both our retail brands using the same infrastructure and we offer a seven day a week installation and delivery service which is focused on providing great customer service, including the removal and recycling of all packaging waste.
Our vertical integration enables us to capture value across the supply chain. We are the largest sofa manufacturer in the UK. We produce around 20% of what we sell in our UK factories and our scale enables us to operate them efficiently. They provide the benefits of being able to offer short lead times and insight to optimise cost pricing for ranges sourced from third parties.
We have over 55 years of expertise and attract, retain and develop the best people in the industry. We fully recognise that delivering an exceptional customer experience requires a dedicated and passionate workforce. It’s the commitment and talent of our people that truly drive our business forward and we take great pride in the unique culture we have cultivated across our Group. We want to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, valued and respected. Diversity in our teams helps us in many ways from obtaining differing perspectives, increasing creativity and innovation and being better able to serve a wider customer base. Our six colleague networks, which each have senior leadership representation, help us connect like-minded people and help us to activate change and engagement initiatives identified in our inclusion agenda.
We utilise data and technology to drive insight, innovation and better decision making. Our ambition for our data platforms is to unlock new growth for our brands and to drive operational efficiencies in our cost base. We have made significant progress over the last three years in simplifying how we store, access and connect data and gain insight through developing a data hub that sources data from around 85 sources.
A good example of how we are utilising data is in The Sofa Delivery Company where we have powerful dashboards that enable us to drill down in detail, for instance to individual van crews to drive performance. Other examples include the development of our Intelligent Lending Platform (which reduces the time to serve customers and allows complete-at-home functionality and soft credit searches), our workforce optimisation planning tool (that predicts footfall weeks ahead, enabling optimal staffing levels to increase conversion) and our Apollo logistics planning tool (that uses advanced algorithms to optimise fleet utilisation and minimise distances travelled, fuel consumption and reliance on third-party delivery partners).
Our Group logistics platform, The Sofa Delivery Company, was launched in June 2021, with the objective of providing the best delivery service in the market for our customers and our colleagues. This involved merging our DFS and Sofology delivery networks into a single combined network, improving the service for our customers as well as providing cost efficiency savings. The Sofa Delivery Company is now the largest two person sofa delivery company in the UK. It delivers for both our retail brands using the same infrastructure and we offer a seven day a week installation and delivery service which is focused on providing great customer service, including the removal and recycling of all packaging waste.
Our vertical integration enables us to capture value across the supply chain. We are the largest sofa manufacturer in the UK. We produce around 20% of what we sell in our UK factories and our scale enables us to operate them efficiently. They provide the benefits of being able to offer short lead times and insight to optimise cost pricing for ranges sourced from third parties.
We have over 55 years of expertise and attract, retain and develop the best people in the industry. We fully recognise that delivering an exceptional customer experience requires a dedicated and passionate workforce. It’s the commitment and talent of our people that truly drive our business forward and we take great pride in the unique culture we have cultivated across our Group. We want to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, valued and respected. Diversity in our teams helps us in many ways from obtaining differing perspectives, increasing creativity and innovation and being better able to serve a wider customer base. Our six colleague networks, which each have senior leadership representation, help us connect like-minded people and help us to activate change and engagement initiatives identified in our inclusion agenda.
