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On this episode of Talking Shop I’m joined by Alain Bejjani—former Group CEO of Middle East retail giant Majid Al Futtaim, and author of the definitive new book, NEXT: Leading Through the New Realities. Drawing on his childhood in war-torn Beirut, and his experience steering a $9.5bn dollar retail and lifestyle empire through a global pandemic, Alain brings an unmatched perspective on leadership under pressure. Today, we break down his crisis survival playbook for retailers operating in distress. We discuss why resilience must always outpace efficiency, the four assets a brand must protect at all costs, and how to turn macro-turmoil into a long-term direction that scales.

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Dunelm has revealed that its sales rose 4% to £415m for the 13 weeks ended 28 June 2025, driven by the Spring heatwave.

Overall, the homeware retailer has seen its full year sales increase 3.8% to £1.77bn. As a result the company expects its full-year gross margin to be up 60bps year-on-year while its full year profit-before-tax is expected to be in line with consensus.

In Q4 digital represented 42% of the company’s sales, an increase of 2%, while 40% of full year sales were digital, an increase of 3%.

Q4 also included Dunelm’s summer sale, during which both full-priced and discounted products performed well.

CEO Nick Wilkinson said: “We’ve had a good final quarter with continued growth and further strategic progress. Customers responded well to offers across our categories in our summer sale, and we saw strong demand for our summer living ranges, particularly as customers focused on their outdoor spaces during the warmer weather.

“We opened four new superstores in the final quarter alone, and our acquisition of the Designers Guild brand and archive presents an exciting opportunity to introduce new, iconic designs to our customers.”

He added: “These strategic developments conclude a year marked by a number of ‘firsts’, including international expansion into Ireland; deploying AI to improve our website experience; and opening our first inner London store at Westfield White City.

“Amidst muted consumer confidence, we are not standing still waiting for a recovery. We are instead focused on delivering relevance to our customers, to help build greater trust in the quality, value and breadth of our offer, harnessing our unique strengths as a multi-category specialist. As we progress our ambitions to gain further market share, we remain confident in our ability to unlock our full potential as the Home of Homes.”

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