Despite the lockdowns in Belgium and the Netherlands, Dille & Kamille has had an excellent year. The turnover of the home and cooking chain exceeded 50 million euros for the first time.
Online sales explode
The retailer’s strong performance is mainly thanks to its webshop: the share of online sales tripled last year from 6 to 18.5 per cent. Total revenues increased by 10 per cent to over 50 million euros, a new record. “Because of Covid and the lockdowns, people are more homebound and also more focused on their homes. That has certainly not done us any harm”, general manager Hans Geels told Dutch news channel RTL Nieuws. Especially baking products and baking mixes did very well.
Dille & Kamille is now working on the further expansion of its store network but is doing so in a well-thought-out manner. “We are searching for shopping streets that have a soul,” says Geels. The chain now has 25 stores in the Netherlands and 11 in Belgium. Soon, the retailer will also open its first German branch in Cologne. Covid delayed that plan by a year. “Given the situation, we concentrated on the online market first,” says Geels.
If the German store turns out to be a success, more will undoubtedly follow. In that case, Geels sees space for about fifty German branches. In the somewhat longer term, the company is also looking at France.
