Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to Maisons du Monde first quarter 2023 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone. I would now like to end the conference with your speaker today, Carole Alexandre, Head of IR. Please go ahead.
Good morning to all of you, and thank you very much for joining this call to present Maisons du Monde first quarter 2023 sales. I am with our CEO, François-Melchior de Polignac, and our CFO, Régis Mathieu, who will be making today's presentation. It will be followed by a Q&A session. You have no doubt seen the press release we issued this morning. The conference call slide can be downloaded from, and viewed on our website, corporate.maisonsdumonde.com. This call is also being audio webcast, and the replay will be available on our website later today. All listeners are reminded to read the forward-looking disclaimer on slide 2. I will now turn the call over to François-Melchior de Polignac.
Thank you very much, Carole. Good morning, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. I'm very pleased to be with you today for the first time as CEO of Maisons du Monde. Maisons du Monde definitely has fantastic fundamentals on which to build. Today, I will share with you some first important decisions that have been made to set the company back on the path to sustained and profitable growth. The agenda for today's call is on slide 4. I will begin with a few introductory remarks to set the scene. I will quickly hand over to Régis, who will take you through the details of our first quarter performance and share some thoughts on our current trading. I will give you a strategic update based on my deep dive into the company. I will provide you with our 2023 outlook.
Let me begin this presentation with a brief overview of the Q1 highlights on slide 6. Our performance in the first quarter was fully in line with the slow start to the year we flagged back in March when we presented our full year results. In a challenging context marked by inflation and low consumer confidence resulting in weak consumption, group sales at EUR 274 million were down 12.5%, reflecting the tough environment. Group GMV was EUR 307 million. This is down 6.7% year-on-year. Within that is a very bright spot. Our marketplace realized EUR 42 million in GMV, double the amount in the same period last year.
We expect Q2 to be challenging as well, we also expect improvement throughout the year and notably a sequential improvement in H2 versus H1, supported by our action plans and also thanks to easier comps. This will bring the sales decrease back into single digits, I will come back to that in the guidance I will present in my concluding remarks. In this context, in order to put the company back on the growth path in H2, I have decided to launch an immediate company-wide plan. We call it the 3C Plan. It focuses very simply on the three fundamentals that are Customers, Costs, and Cash. Those are our three key words for the year on which the entire company is focused, I will detail that in a more granular way shortly.
Before that, let me hand over to Régis, who will detail our Q1 sales performance.
Thank you very much, François-Melchior. Good morning to everyone. Great to be with you today again to present our Q1 numbers and answer your questions later on. FM has already set the backdrop. On slide 7, you see how that translated into numbers. As shown on the bridge, first quarter sales at nearly EUR 274 million were down 12.5% versus the same period last year. As FM indicated, this is in line with our previously flagged expectations. This drop is partly the result of a tough comparable base, as sales had been pretty resilient in Q1 of last year before trailing off sharply in Q2 following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and a sudden adjustment in consumer confidence.
They are also the result of the soft consumption environment that resulted in lower traffic, both in stores and online, in a lower conversion rate, which we partly offset across the quarter through successful targeted promotions and a strong marketplace performance that I will detail shortly. This resulted in a drop of EUR 43 million or 14% in like-for-like sales, with a positive impact, as you can see on the bridge, of EUR 4 million from stores opened since Q1 of last year. If we move on slide eight, we turn to our usual look at sales by category, channel, and geography. By category, first, furniture was down 17% versus Q1 of last year and 3% versus Q1 of 2019.
Despite some improvements in product availability as freight and also supply chain tensions eased, the category suffered from high inflation that led consumers to defer some spending. Decoration, which accounts for about 57% of sales, was down by a more limited 9% and was up 4.6% versus Q1 2019. Sales were well supported by targeted promotions such as Les Journées Maison and some curated commercial initiatives such as free delivery. By channel, store sales were down 6% year-over-year and 2% versus Q1 2019. Amid the weak consumption environment that impacted traffic and the conversion rate.
Online, which accounted for 28% of total sales, were down by 25%, but are still up 9% versus Q1 2019, with traffic also up 1.5 times in the period, underscoring the advances we have made since the pandemic in our digital strategy. These numbers actually translate contrasting trends between web activity and the marketplace. On the one hand, sales by our website decreased on lower traffic and cart comps. On the other hand, during the quarter, marketplace sales were buoyant, as we will see shortly. Translated into GMV, that presents a genuine view of our online performance. Total online was down a more limited 9%. Finally, by geography. Sales in France, which represented of the quarter 54% of the total, were down 9% year-on-year and 5% versus Q1 2019.
This partially reflected the impact of social unrest in the country, with strikes hurting store sales, which account for nearly three-quarters of our French sales. Versus 2019, I may flag the reduction of stores in France, -6, which obviously explain a part of the decrease with versus this period. International sales were down 17%, notably due to weak consumption in Northern Europe. Sales in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, which represent above 30% of international sales, were down around 20%. Combined sales in Spain and Italy, which account for more than half of our international sales, were down by a more limited 10%. When compared, and you can see that on the slide, to 2019, international sales are up nearly 10%, reflecting our success in exporting our model.
Over the quarter, international online sales were down 30%, notably on the back of Germany, sorry, as we decided to adjust down our marketing expenses in this region, to reallocate part of those means on actions with faster ROI. A final word on international markets to say that in line with this stronger focus on resource allocation, we have decided to shut down our online activities in the U.K. If you recall, we had already shut down our shop-in-shop activities a few years ago. Sales in the U.K. accounted for 1% of total group sales last year. This decision definitely reflects our strict focus on investing resources with discipline all across the business.
If I move to next slide 9, where we focus there on a clearly green shoots amid the subdued consumption environment we have described, our marketplace, which is expanding intentionally and ramping up in terms of activity. Shown on the chart, Q1 market GMV was EUR 42 million, more than doubling versus the same period last year. Of the total 42 in marketplace GMV, about EUR 39 million came from online and EUR 3 million from customers accessing the marketplace from our stores. This marks the third successive quarter of triple-digit year-over-year growth, demonstrating that it has gained strong traction.
Let me remind you that on top of complementing our offer and unique service to our consumers, on top of bringing inside some key data on the market dynamics, the marketplace growth, getting to maturity, notably in France, improves our economics as it is margining our creative activity. The online marketplace now represents 36% of total online GMV. It currently offers more than 240,000 SKUs, up 60% year-over-year, with 1,500 brands available through more than 500 vendors, a figure that is up 27% year-over-year. Marketplace is accessible in France, Spain, Italy. France account for three quarters, we are seeing a steady rise in Italy, where it was launched last year. It is our plan to very likely roll out the marketplace in one other country in H2.
That is good segue to move on slide 10 on store network. During the quarter, we continued with our active and dynamic management of store network in the quarter, with 6 closure, bringing to 352 the total number of stores we operated at the end of Q1. Over the quarter, we closed 3 stores in France and 3 stores in the rest of Europe, 2 in Belgium, 1 in Italy. We definitely continue to see stores as a key strategic asset and a key part of our omnichannel strategy. In the current context, we continue to be very cautious and disciplined in the pace of developing our store network and remain very attentive to the evolution of our category. In the full year, we expect a net 10 closures overall. At the same time, beginning to test in Q2 a commission-based affiliation model.
As you know, this is a model that has been very successful, implemented by other retailers, and we think there is good potential for Maisons du Monde as well. The model will allow us to extend the footprint of Maisons du Monde while notably optimizing CapEx. In 2023, we will be running up to 5 tests in France, starting now in May, with some stores transferred from our existing network. On slide 11, before handing the mic back to FM, let me now give you a bit of insight on our current trading since the start of Q2. The macroeconomic conditions are largely unchanged from those we have described earlier, namely high and persistent inflation and subdued consumption amid constrained purchasing power and low consumer confidence.
That said, as we have flagged, we are seeing a slight sequential improvement which should gradually pick up as of this month as the comparable base eases. Store and online traffic is recovering, but the conversion rate remains below last year. In that context, while our model clearly is not a promotional one, we are launching very tactical and targeted promotions, as well as some other non-pricing related commercial initiatives such as specific selection of low price item or free delivery offers in order to drive sales. We have also implemented in airport in France a new digital solution called App Shop, offering our customers a full omnichannel experience. We will of course, be showcasing our new fall winter collection as well as continuing our exclusive collaborations, notably for the second year in a row with Stade de France or the Festival de Cannes.
Of course, we launched a free plan that FM will now present to you with other actions fully meant to resume conditions of growth. In Q2, we will start to benefit from all those different initiatives and the performance will start improving sequentially, while still remaining in the mid-single digit negative territory. FM, I hand over to you.
Thank you, Régis. First, I would like to look a bit back and share with you in this section both my initial observations on Maisons du Monde after a few months at the company, first as Deputy CEO and since mid-March as CEO. Also lay out in a granular way the operational priorities I have defined with the Exec Com to help us navigate through turbulent times and lay the foundations for a redemption of profitable growth. As already shared in March, I have invested a lot of time to meet with the teams of Maisons du Monde at store level in all of our markets, at head office level, and at our main logistic platform in Southern France. I met individually with each of the more than 50 managers who compose our leadership group.
I also had round tables with a variety of associates such as store directors, operators of our customer call center, product managers, and also with customers. My key takeaway from this full immersion in Maisons du Monde, as shown on slide 13, is that we do have very strong fundamentals on which to build beyond the passion, talent, and expertise of all teams and our vision captured in our inspiring raison d'être. Let me quickly mention 3 of them. First of all, I was struck in my meetings with customers and associates by the fact that Maisons du Monde is a powerful brand that inspires deep affection. This is also evidenced by the fact that it was recognized for the 7th consecutive year as the 2nd favorite home and living brand in France by EY-Parthenon. Second, Maisons du Monde has a distinctive business model.
It's truly omnichannel, and its digital presence has been augmented by the curated state-of-the-art marketplace. This marketplace is margin accretive. It helps with customer acquisition and is complementary to our own offering. Maisons du Monde also has a strong store footprint across Europe. Last but not least, Maisons du Monde also has a fast-growing and rather unique sustainable product range through our Good is Beautiful movement, which helps us lead our industry towards more sustainability. Third, Maisons du Monde has a resilient and balanced financial model with a growth margin level that is best in class, a proven ability to show discipline in resource allocation, as we showed in the past quarters, while adjusting our way to operate to the new functionalities, and a healthy balance sheet that leaves us with solid capabilities to maintain investments in growth drivers.
This deep dive helped me confirm the soundness of our medium-term strategy. Indeed, Maisons du Monde can and will resume growth, capitalizing on its international footprint, its e-commerce and marketplace, and its ability to offer inspiring ranges to create unique, warm and sustainable places to live. Maisons du Monde can and will resume growth by also leveraging promising avenues of development such as franchise or B2B. However, in order to resume growth tomorrow, Maisons du Monde has to strengthen its unique platform today to face the current adverse consumption context. This short-term priority called for an immediate and company-wide mobilization to guarantee the full alignment of all energies behind a common initiative. That's why together with the Exec Com, then with the full leadership group, and finally with a very transparent and energizing communication to all the organization, we launched a plan called 3C.
Slide 14 shows you what 3C stands for: customers, cost, and cash. What is behind this plan is a simple conviction that while we cannot control the environment, we can act decisively on what is under our control. Our approach to customers and our financial discipline. The plan encompasses a series of initiatives mixing some top-down directions and many bottom-up commitments. Its strength resides in 2 key factors. First, it focuses on immediate actions which should deliver positive impacts already in Q2. Second, it relies on the individual commitment of each member of the leadership group. Thus, we can ensure impact, speed, collaboration and alignment. These actions are both quite numerous and also very often quite simple and basic. Speed and simplicity are just what we need for short-term impact. Let me give you some flavor for each of the 3 Cs on the next slides.
On slide 15, I will focus on three main aspects: customer centricity, customer experience, and price accessibility. Customer satisfaction must be the common objective of all the teams of Maisons du Monde. This may seem obvious, but it's even more crucial in a period of weak discretionary consumption when we must ensure that each customer experience is fully rewarding and satisfying. We thus need to be obsessed with the customer with three levels of actions. The first level is a set of initiatives to put the customer at the center of all our actions. One thing we did may seem very anecdotal or symbolic, but it is also very effective to identify and act on customer claims or comments. We put my direct email address on our website to allow customers to report their issues directly to me.
This has already allowed me and the whole organization to react faster to a couple of incidents on our website or information flow. Dealing with customer complaints or issues is no longer just the job of the customer service team, but very clearly everyone's job. We also created a customer committee gathering a number of key functions to systematically address the main pain points of the customer journey on and offline. This, for instance, already allowed us to identify a couple of procedures that were delaying service at checkout and that we decided to eliminate. The second bucket is many operational initiatives to improve customer experience at store level and boost sales. Let me share with you a few basic examples. One was to reinforce the systematic use of staff headsets in the store. This allows the staff to react much faster and better to customer needs at store level.
Another initiative was to change the merchandising rules to drastically improve the share of furniture exhibited in store that can actually be delivered within a few weeks. Another one to increase the number of higher rotation products at gondola heads. Of course, we do not want to copy the mass market, but we do have some highly visible spots in store that can be more productive as we replace slow-moving high-value articles with more accessible and preferably seasonal goods. A third example was to reignite business excitement among staff and stores by launching renewed internal sales performance benchmarks and some commercial challenges. Finally, giving stores greater autonomy on the local adaptation of their merchandising. I do not wish to lose the efficiency of our highly professional merchandising, but the store team is able to catch opportunities that the head office doesn't spot.
Again, these are not far-reaching strategic moves, but rather immediate, very specific actions that put the whole organization in a renewed fighting spirit to win customer by customer and sale by sale. Of course, make sure we get the best possible ROI on any investment we make to drive customers to website or store by ensuring they are fully satisfied and thus likely to return. Last but not least, price accessibility. We have been measuring the elasticity of a number of prices, and we do see a potential non-dilutive uplift. We also witness growing promotional pressure in the market as consumers are more price constrained and many players also under pressure. As we do not want to enter into a vicious circle of discounting our image and the quality perception of our offer, we have to progress on accessibility, leveraging a variety of targeted approaches.
Some price cuts that we communicated in the media rather than through cross marketing campaigns, the reduction to EUR 800 from EUR 1,000 previously of the minimum order value to benefit from free delivery, a fragmented payment offer, or a larger but still selective outdoor campaign. For obvious competitive reasons, I will not enter into the details. Let me just share with you that this very rational and database methodology allows us to better refine every month the ROI of our action plans by optimizing the levels we use between selective payment price cuts, targeted promotions, or other initiatives such as free delivery or fragmented payments. You understand that we will not become a promotion-driven company, but that we will continue to improve price accessibility in a pragmatic and tactical way. On slide 16, we turn to cost.
I strongly believe that we have to recognize the fact that we must structurally adjust our cost base given the lack of visibility on consumer confidence. We are thus making a number of tough decisions to further reduce cost, of course, reinforcing all initiatives already in place and initiating new ones. They can be summed up in three categories. First, re-challenge all possible agreements with third parties. It is not just about renegotiating some agreements, but it's also about enforcing a systematic, highly demanding approach of challenging all agreements with all partners. Second, further reduce and adapt organization, both at head office and store level beyond our first measures in 2022. Third, put up medium-term projects that do not fully guarantee fast enough ROI. Along those lines, we have reviewed all our projects and simply reclassified them as confirmed, simplified, postponed or canceled.
As Régis mentioned, we have also decided to terminate our online operation in the U.K., and we are anticipating a number of store closings. On this slide, we share with you the two main objectives of the 3C Plan, maintaining gross margin while further adjusting the cost base. On the gross margin front, despite unfavorable foreign exchange terms this year that will start impacting our economics in H2, some extra curated investments in promotion to restore positive traffic dynamics and profiting from freight cost easing, we do plan to defend the 65% gross margin, which is still among the best in class. On the cost front and in a context of inflation that remains high, notably on rent and salaries, that for a big part depend on local indexes, we are aiming for cost savings of EUR 25 million before inflation. Finally, on slide 17, cash.
This year will be lighter on the CapEx front, with the impact of the project streamlining I shared a minute ago. Priority will be placed on customer-oriented investments, IT, and initiatives that are key to future growth. We will manage inventory dynamically, improving allocation by store and seeking to balance discipline with improved availability where we can still make further significant improvements. Last but not least, we'll further work on our cash merchandise, both by further optimizing with agility our inventory level, focusing on eliminating lower rotation products and on renegotiating our payment terms with our suppliers as part of efforts on all components of working cap. Let me underline again that these action plans are deliberately very simple and pragmatic, but by no means do they amount to ignoring longer-term ambitions. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Our 3C Plan is a prerequisite to build a new, more agile, frugal, and customer-driven company that will go on pursuing its longer-term growth journey. Growth that we will seek by leveraging our omnichannel assets, our growing marketplace, the clear potential of B2B, or the new horizon that affiliation of franchise opens for us. I know I was a bit long on the initiative of the 3C Plan, but I wanted you to get a real feel for what is happening across the organization. I'm sure you understood from what I said that the overarching idea is back to basics. Indeed, to conclude, let me share with you the very simple image I already shared with all the teams internally. That of a ship that embarked on an ambitious, profitable growth journey in late 2021, when all conditions were favorable.
That now, while staying the same course, has to adapt to rough weather and is thus putting the oars in the water to row. This is not a negative vision, on the contrary, it is based upon the certainty that the ship and its target are healthy and that we can resume the journey after crossing the troubled waters. Now let me conclude on slide 20 with our outlook. Considering first, a negative first quarter in the low teens, second, a comparable base that will gradually improve over the year, and third, the benefit of our 3C Plan. We target top line decrease in the low to mid-single digit % range with a sequential improvement in H2 versus H1. EBIT in a range of EUR 65 million-EUR 75 million. Free cash flow in a range of EUR 40 million-EUR 50 million.
A dividend payout ratio of 30%-40%. On the ESG front, one-third of Maisons du Monde 2023 collections included in the Good Is Beautiful selection. In conclusion, I hope you have gathered that even if the current circumstances are challenging, I am hugely excited by Maisons du Monde's great fundamentals and teams, and by its potential to resume profitable growth. I am happy to share with you that the 3C Plan, when launched, met with a very positive and responsible response from all the teams. I do see that the great teams of Maisons du Monde are embracing the necessary steps we are taking, and I'm fully confident such steps will thus deliver. Today, we are focused on our 3C Plan and on the execution of our full year 2023 guidance.
At a later stage, we will be coming back to you to share our new midterm plan. In the meantime, thank you for your attention, and Regis and I are now happy to take your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now begin the question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. If you wish to withdraw your question, please press star one one again. We are now taking the first question. The first question from Christophe Schwope from Oddo BHF. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for taking my question. I've got two set, let's say. The first one is on the gross margin. You give us 65%.
23. Could you give us more granularity regarding the moving parts between the US dollar impact, the freight, and probably the promotion as well? The second set of question is regarding the cost base, let's say the adjustment of the saving at EUR 25 million. Just to be sure, so that's OPEX, which means below the gross margin. The last one is how much net of inflation will this figure will be? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Christophe. we'll take those two question. On the gross margin front, indeed, different moving parts, and we already shared with all of you all of them. You mentioned $, movement versus EUR, freight. I could add to that pricing, inflation on the raw material and obviously promotion as you said. To give you a bit of flavor, I think there are two main element to bear in mind. So to get to this level, I would summarize in three bits. On the positive side, we still have a positive pricing effect net of promotion, probably 0 to 50 basis points.
I'm precising net of promotion which means that the contribution of price will be higher, and we will indeed probably invest a bit more in promotion. If you remember, we were around 8% last year. We consider we will navigate probably in the zone of 9%-9.5% total promotion rate. So the net of the two will be a positive contributor to gross margin evolution. Freight will be an important one, indeed, probably more than 100 basis points, due to the market adjustment and very good negotiations that we have made. I will come back to freight in term of phasing. Inflation on raw mat and USD will be on the contrary headwind, indeed, probably 100-150 basis points.
All in all, those elements will be there to defend the 65% line. The second thing I would like to flag is the phasing, because while mentioning freight or USD, we know that the effect in our P&L is not what we observe immediately on the market. What we will have or still in H1 this year is freight cost embarked in our cost of goods which are in reference to last year market, let's say, situation. Where on the contrary, in H2, we will benefit from the strong adjustment, and it will be the opposite on USD.
My last message on the 65, it is about the de-balancing in between H1 and H2, meaning that H1 should be rather close to 64 and H2 rather close to 66 in a simpler way to present it. To your second question, Christophe, on the EUR 25 million. 3 points. Yes, it's about SG&A, so below net margin. Second, it's gross saving, meaning that they are before inflation, which remains high on the in parallel of those initiatives. That's why I think that was the key message of Francois-Melchior vis-à-vis the resiliency on cost. We definitely have initiated lot of actions to mitigate those inflation. Inflation on rent, payroll, evolution, energy, that's the usual stuff I would say probably other company has mentioned.
Those 25 growth saving are definitely embarked in our full year EBIT margin guidance. I hope it clarifies on the two elements set off.
Yeah, that's great. Thank you very much for the answer. Very clear.
Thank you for your question. We are now taking the next question. The question from Marie-Line Fort from Societe Generale . Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thank you very much. I still have one question on inflation because you give your, some comments, but could we have some precise figures or even a range of what inflation we can put in our model for your OpEx? The second question is more strategic. I would like to know how François Mercure see the development for Maisons du Monde on the international, because it was a big trigger for Maisons du Monde at the IPO, and it has not been really well executed at this stage. Also, I would like to know what is your B2B contribution to yourself today, and in your growth plan, what could be the potential development for this activity? Many thanks.
Good morning, Marilyn. Sorry. I know you, that you posted as well. I know it's another question of another analyst. To your question on, on inflation. I will not get into your very detailed probably model. Just to flag that indeed, inflation are probably in the same zone of EUR 25 million, EUR 30 million in total. If we consider payroll evolution and all of the metrics vis-à-vis energy or rent, the level of inflation embarked in our guidance is quite heavy. That it reinforces the importance of this 3C initiative, out of which your cost is a very serious one to mitigate via this EUR 25 million growth saving in SG&A the level of inflation.
Just to say that if you start with the declining, unfortunately, sales perspective, but with this gross margin element, all in all, the level of inflation is fully offset or nearly offset with all those initiatives that we have implemented. I hand over probably to FM for the second part of your question on international.
Yeah. Thank you, Marion, for your question. I understand about growth with key two leverages you identified. Let me give an answer in two parts. First, as I said, I'm pretty convinced of the key levers of potential growth that we do have and enjoy. You mentioned international, and I do agree that it is a very key potential component of our future growth, B2B as well, and also as I mentioned, I believe very strongly in the development potential for marketplace and affiliation.
This being said, really for the time being, our huge focus, as I said, is to make sure we deliver 2023. We have the back to basics movement to make sure we get the organization back on its feet, to then be able to grasp the opportunities of those future potential leverages that you mentioned, as I complimented. I will not enter into the detail of the future growth. That will really have to be part of our midterm strategic plan update, on which we will come back to you at a later stage.
Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for your question. We are now taking the next question. The next question from Steven Billiet from BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hello, everyone. I got 3 questions, if I may. The first one is about the top line. You anticipate a positive top line growth in H2. Based on my calculation, it implies the sales down around 10% in H1. First, are you comfortable with this? Second, what are the tailwinds expect the positive like comparison basis? What are the tailwinds in H2 to anticipate a positive growth? This is my first question. Second question is about the OpEx. Based on your on the statement that you gave us, does it imply that OpEx should be roughly stable in 2023? Should we expect this EUR 25 million cost optimization to last beyond 2023? Third question is about your cash generation.
You have to rationalize your CapEx and optimize your working cap. Can you please give us an idea of what we should expect in terms of percentage of sales? Last question is about your midterm plan. When will you release this plan? Thank you.
Thank you. Quality of the hearing was not perfect, so I hope I captured everything. I will start with just speaking with the first three, perhaps on top line H2 dynamic and improvement. You can complete it in your question, and EBIT vis-à-vis H1. I precise during the call that, considering the comb base easing as of May, and all actions that we put in place starting paying out as of, I may say, now, we will have a sequential improvement of sales. I mentioned that Q2, however, should remain in the mid single digits kind of range. I think it confirms the figures that you mentioned, vis-à-vis H1 performance. Vis-à-vis H2, we said that it's a sequential improvement, and your question was about the tailwind.
I mean, it's all about all of the actions that precisely François-Melchior described. It's about as well a very precise management, I would say, of pricing/promotion activities and allocation of resources very precisely dedicated to the different aspects of our business. We definitely count on those, all of those actions. I will not describe in further details. To restore traffic and conversion that will participate to that. Your second question about OpEx. To be fair, I let you do the math. We said that on the basis of a 65% of gross margin, we definitely consider that we will improve a bit this year. This is the spirit of our guidance in between 65% and 75%. Indeed, then there are moving parts in between G&A and D&A.
Roughly speaking, I think what is really important to flag is that we put all those actions in place, so they stay the last, and they contribute to streamline the cost base. At the time, we are facing category dynamics that are not yet there, very supportive. When they start recovering and with all those actions vis-à-vis customer, we can really resume growth and accelerate. Third question about free cash flow. You ask about the ratio. We gave a guidance on sales and on free cash in between EUR 40 million and EUR 50 million. I think indeed, the intention is really to be strict on CapEx. However, we still have some unboxed. As an example, the third phase of our second warehouse, there will still be probably tactical key openings.
We do have maintained some important projects that François-Melchior described as maintained, and those are important to support growth. They are important to structure as well the transformation of the company. CapEx will be probably in the zone of the EUR 50 million. In parallel of that, we will pay a strong attention to the inventory management, which is an important factor of the free cash flow generation. By confirming EUR 40 million-EUR 50 million, we are definitely engaged into that journey about improving always free cash flow generation independency from the contract. For the midterm, I think, we will see later. Far, it's really about the execution of the short-term journey, and I let François-Melchior complementing on that.
Thank you, Régis. I think the midterm plan is, of course, quite relevant question. Frankly speaking, what you have, I hope, gathered from what I said, that the long-term, midterm strategy that currently guides our efforts to drive future growth remains globally very valid. We are still working on the key axes that will help us deliver profit growth in the future. Of course, we'll update our midterm strategic plan. As you understood, for the moment, the real key part of what we have to do is to ensure the 2023 guidance and to make sure we have the full organization really back to basics. We clarify the agenda probably in July in terms of what comes in the future.
All right. Thank you.
I think we have a couple of question on the chat as well. I see two of Christian. Good morning, Christian. Your first question is about freight cost evolution, and the second one about USD. I expect those two just to complement probably on Christophe original question and say that, we have definitely optimized our negotiation. We are always discussing with our freight partners. It's indeed a strong reduction year-over-year. In your message, you precise that currently the market is 1.5 KUSD-2 KUSD container. We are, definitely, compared to that, I would say on market practice.
It's important, again, I'm flagging it, to remind all of you that independently from what we pay when we at the moment source a container from Asia, what we have in our P&L is still embarking the cost of last year. We will start observing the benefit of this market adjustment really in H2 and obviously probably already in 2024 with the same phasing dynamic. Your second question, Christophe, was on USD and especially on 2024. You know, we have in place, and I commented it many times already, a hedging policy that has given us the opportunity to really absorb definitely, positively the strong movement of USD last year. Last year, 2022, we had positions on USD made in 2021, so that was really profitable.
This year, obviously, quarter after quarter, we start observing in our P&L an adverse USD. It will be mainly in H2 2023. To start answering your question about 2024, to the same logic, we have started hedging 2024 already back Q3, Q4 last year. I will not comment the, at this moment of time, precisely where we we go for 2024, but obviously, we've at different level of position, considering the decision made historically, we are probably at a level of 30% hedged coverage for next year already. We start, we keep managing the hedging policy accordingly. I hope it complements. I don't know, operator, if we have a other question on the, on live.
Excuse me, sir. No, we don't have any other question on the phone. If anyone wants to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone.
Waiting for this. I see another one on the chat from Marlène Aufray. Sorry if I'm not pronouncing properly. A question which is about commercial performance versus peers in our market in France. I can take this one again. Basically, I think all the categories facing the same adverse consumer behavior at the moment. We do not consider underperforming versus the market. Honestly, depending on the category, depending on the, I would say the, yes, category furniture or decor, it may give a different perspective. On online, if I take this as an example, we have been able really to defend our market share on this. I think thanks to the marketplace, unique kind of aspect of our model.
This is really a positive development. We have another one vis-a-vis the -12.5% registered in Q1 in term of sales, how it is basically split in between volume and price. Thanks for the question. I think considering where we start from, I mean, 2022 Q1 base, it's without any surprise that the volume negative part of the performance is quite high. It's probably mid to high teens volume negative. In front of that, we have a price and promo net effect, which is probably mid-single digits. That would be my way to summarize the low teens result of the Q1.
Again, vis-a-vis net price contribution, it's a higher contribution of price and an extra investment of promo over the quarter, which is probably 1%-2% over the quarter. We have another question on the chat. You're shy, guys, not being loud about that. You push me to read them. A question from Florent: Does the target includes the termination of the business in the U.K.? Yes. As I said during the call, it was purely online, 1% of the total sales. Obviously, we will communicate to our consumers, shoppers, as of now on this termination that will really be fully effective, let's say by the end of Q2.
The effect is not very material to the size of Maisons du Monde globally, and it is embarked in the guidance.
The next question I see is: Don't you think you have some cannibalization regarding online sales and marketplace regarding the performance of online sales? I think it's a fair question given the figures that we just shared. Let me just tell you, first of all, of course, I cannot be sure that any customer going on our website will not, in the end, pick up a product from one of our partners rather than one of our own Maisons du Monde products. What I'm pretty sure about is that the net impact of marketplace is very accretive for the whole model in different ways. The first one is that the marketplace very strongly increases our relevance online and increases the efficiency of our capacity to attract customers, both when we do financially purchase some traffic and for the organic traffic acquisition.
Of course, it also increases the relevance when the customer is on our website to make sure that he or she does find the product he or she is willing to find. Any cannibalization, I could not swear there is none of it, but a net positive insight impact, I'm pretty 100% sure of it. We have no other question here on the chat we can see.
Any other question live?
No, there are no further questions on the phone.
Well, in that case, thank you very much. We hope we were not too long, especially myself on my part for this first introduction to what we really want to achieve and change in the organization. We are looking forward to speaking with you at a later stage.
Thank you, Marie, very much, all of you. Obviously, Carol, myself, we are there in case of follow-up question. I'm sure to see some of you on the road in a conference already as of tomorrow. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Thank you.
Thank you all.
That concludes the conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.