Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Maisons du Monde Full Year 2022 Results call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, you can please press star one and one again. Alternatively, you may submit your question via the webcast. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Carole Alexandre, Head of IR. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning to all of you, and thank you very much for joining this call to present Maisons du Monde full year 2022 results. I am Carole Alexandre, Head of Investor Relations. I am with our CEO, Julie Walbaum, and our CFO, Régis Massuyeau, who will be making today's presentation. It will be followed by a Q&A session. François-Melchior de Polignac, Deputy CEO, is also with us and will say a few words about his first week at the company. 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 a 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 Julie Walbaum.
Thank you, Carole. Good morning, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. I am pleased to hold this financial result review with you today for the last time before I hand over to François-Melchior de Polignac in a few days. Before I walk you through our presentation, I'd like to give the mic to François-Melchior so that he can introduce himself and share his first impressions of Maisons du Monde.
Good morning, everyone, and of course, thank you, Julie, for your warm welcome to Maisons du Monde since end January. After this few weeks in the company, I'm sure you're all very eager to hear more about my views on our roadmap. I am first going to complete my diagnosis before coming back to you in May with greater clarity on Maisons du Monde 2023 priorities and roadmap. What I would like to do today is to briefly introduce myself to you and share with you my first impressions. I worked 22 years at Carrefour after previous experiences at L'Oréal and at the Boston Consulting Group. At Carrefour, I held a number of positions, both at headquarters and country level.
On the functional side, these range from M&A associate to leader of cost reduction or FMCG global initiatives, or more recently, group executive in charge of merchandise and procurement. On the operational and general management side, I've notably been in charge of Carrefour supermarket business unit in Poland and CEO of Romania and Belgium. In my last position at Carrefour, I was executive director in charge of Belgium, Romania, and Poland. I'm not saying this to share my resume, but because I feel it gives you a hint of the kind of experiences and know-how I will bring to Maisons du Monde from March the fifteenth. About Maisons du Monde. Julie told you about the company's many strengths. I can only agree. This is what attracted me to the company.
I have spent my first few weeks meeting our teams across all our markets in Europe, in stores, in our main distribution center and at headquarters. I was able to appreciate their skills, professionalism, strong commitment to the group's values and raison d'être, and their determination to deliver the company's business and financial agenda. These first weeks have confirmed my enthusiasm for the company's potential and my confidence that Maisons du Monde has many strong assets on which to build. They notably include its strong omni-channel model, its ability to develop new avenues of growth, such as the marketplace or B2B, a brand that has strong recognition and enthusiastic followers on social media, and last but not least, highly engaged teams. Over the next few weeks, I will work with the teams, and I will further listen to our customers to adapt our roadmap for the year wherever necessary.
I very much look forward to our next meeting in May to get a chance to share this and more with you. For now, I will leave you with Julie and Régis to discuss the company's 2022 performance and the current trading. Thank you to all of you for your attention, and I look forward to my future exchanges with you, and I would be happy to answer a few questions in the Q&A.
Thank you, François-Melchior. Maisons du Monde is indeed a great company with plenty of assets and also opportunities. I wish you again, together with the teams, brilliant success in this new chapter. Back to the agenda. As you see on slide four, it will follow the typical sequence. I will begin with an overview of the key business and strategic highlights of last year. Régis will then take you through our numbers and also our 2023 outlook. We will then open the floor to your questions. Let's begin on slide six with our 2022 business and strategic highlights. Throughout most of last year, we operated, as you know, in a very challenging environment marked by the war in Ukraine and soaring inflation across Europe, which naturally impacted consumer confidence and led to sharp deceleration of spending from Q2 onwards.
Inflation also massively impacted our cost base with a EUR 90 million impact on EBIT coming from negative externalities, including EUR 65 million for the sole freight component. This means three quarters of our 2021 EBIT base were swept away because of inflation. Against this, we implemented a forceful action plan to support sales and also to protect profit and cash. Thanks to this strict discipline, we reached or exceeded our updated financial targets as our detailed index page. On top of managing the cost and cash equation, we continue to advance our strategic agenda as our vision has always been to create short and long-term value. Let me highlight a few achievements of the year. On the strategic front, after a successful launch in France, we rolled out our curated marketplace into new markets, Spain and then Italy, with very encouraging initial results.
We also launched our second distribution center, which is a key step in improving customer experience and also operational efficiency going forward. Finally, we launched our Good is beautiful CSR brand movement, a series of bold commitments that put sustainability at the heart of everything we do. On operations, we made new advances in strengthening our brands with the launch of inspiring high-profile product collaborations and an enhanced omnichannel commerce customer experience. We further ramped up the digitization of our commercial model, notably through the implementation of a new IT omnichannel ordering platform that allows our teams to further drive store-to-web traffic and sales. Also the launch of our first retail media solutions, a very promising new avenue. We also accelerated our B2B operations with solid growth across our direct and online sales channels and the deployment of our first business corners in our stores.
Finally, we made a major step in improving our sales and operations organization, notably through the strong reinforcement of our purchasing and planning capabilities. On the financial side, we were able to contain the erosion of gross margin through forceful negotiations with our suppliers, doing better than our cost-saving initial objective. We have succeeded our SG&A adjustment objectives through strict and continuous discipline at all levels of the organization. Finally, in the context of necessary inventory replenishment, we optimized cash generation through active working capital and CapEx management. Maisons du Monde will be continuing this discipline this year with new initiatives that are already underway.
While we do acknowledge the performance in 2022 was below what we initially expected at a time when no one honestly could foresee a war starting in Ukraine and its extensive impact all over the globe, we do want to highlight that the actions we took delivered the aims on the financial side and have laid the foundations for a stronger business looking forward. On slide seven, you can see that our financial performance in 2022 was in line with the edited guidance we provided last May. Our sales were down 5.1% in line with our guidance of a decrease in the mid-single digit range. It's worth noting that while they were down year-over-year, our full-year sales are up 5.1% versus the pre-COVID level in 2019, showing that we emerged strengthened from the crisis.
Also, in GMV terms, which more accurately reflects our commercial performance, our revenue amounted to EUR 1.337 billion. That is down only 1% year-on-year and up 13% versus 2019. Our EBIT margin at 5.5% was in the high range of our guidance of 5% or above. Indeed, our EBIT near EUR 69 million as we offset about half of the inflation impact of EUR 90 million through our cost containment plans and selective price uplift. Free cash flow of EUR 32 million was above our updated guidance of EUR 10 million-EUR 30 million. Our performance translated into earnings per share of EUR 0.80, and we will propose to our shareholders a dividend of EUR 0.30 per share at our next AGM, which amounts to a payout ratio of 37%.
On slide eight now, we focus on the key commercial initiatives that strengthen Maisons du Monde as a direct-to-consumer love brand through three pillars: creativity, inspiration, and engagement. The creativity of a brand and the quality of our in-house design collections was underscored by a 30% increase in press mentions this year. We also launched our first series of desirable and sustainable product collaborations in line with our brand mission. The first was with influencer Lisa Gachet, renowned for being the founder of the creative and inclusive brand called Make My Lemonade for a collection of decoration products inspired by the Memphis movement. We followed this with a new collaboration with Sakina M'Sa, the pioneer of sustainable fashion. We designed an exclusive collection of tableware and home products that celebrate exceptional women such as Camille Claudel or Frida Kahlo.
These collaborations have generated a reach of 5 million users with our community, which is big numbers for collab. The profits from the collections have been donated to La Maison des Femmes, an NGO that fights violence against women in accordance with our Good is beautiful CSR brand movement. Second, inspiration. This year, we opened 16 new suites in the Maisons du Monde Hôtel & Suites in Marseille, one of the three hotels we have opened in partnership with the Vicartem Group to showcase our collection to business customers. We also carried out an innovative collaboration with the Stade de France to revamp several spaces inside the iconic stadium.
We also organized and hosted successful influence events, most notably the fourth annual event on interior design trends, which attracted more than 2,000 architects and designers eager to hear our views on home and living. These are all opportunities to raise our brand awareness and profile while connecting with engaged communities. Finally, engagement. Maisons du Monde global social media community grew by 5% year on year and by 17% versus 2019, reaching 8.6 million followers across Europe. The number of videos seen on Instagram and TikTok rose eightfold versus 2021, translating into an increasing engagement with our communities in social media with a cumulative reach of over 600 million views.
As a result of all this, thanks to our highly committed teams, we are proud that for the 6th consecutive year, Maisons du Monde was recognized as the second favorite home and living brand in France just after IKEA. On slide nine, we focus on the success of our B2B business, which has shown appreciable growth in the context of soft consumption across board. On the left-hand side of the slide, you see how we are structured and how we are generating cross-channel synergies. In addition to a dedicated sales rep team, we are also selling our B2B offering through our web and also our stores. To accelerate B2B growth, we are recruiting more sales agents last year on the ground and also boosted online investment. These two channels have shown spectacular growth year on year, respectively of +26% and +13%.
We now want to further boost B2B sales at store level. This is why we opened at the very end of 2022, a first series of five business corners in selected French and Italian stores. All in, B2B delivered in 2022 GMV of EUR 73 million as B2B customers also buy some of our marketplace products. This GMV number is up 6% versus 2021 and 9% versus 2019. Of the total, EUR 48 million were generated by our business sales rep team and also by the web, and another EUR 25 million were generated in store. We believe B2B is a promising growth avenue, building on a strong value proposition. Indeed, we have a dedicated offering of over 500 products exclusively designed to address business customer needs.
We can also offer them a distinctive end-to-end experience, from interior design service to order, delivery and assembly. The marketplace is an additional benefit as it allows us to offer some specific products that our own catalog doesn't have, which increases basket size and profitability. Our MDM hotels and suites in partnership with Vicartem Group are a great living showroom for our B2B products and did boost our hotels customer base. A great driver to increase B2B sales is to raise awareness of the service. We did that through active presence on PR, influence and social media, or also high-profile partnerships such as the one with Stade de France. This is working, as shown by the threefold increase in unaided awareness versus 2019 in our interior designer segment. Our B2B position is a great asset to Maisons du Monde and a promising growth driver for the group.
On slide 10 now, we have a look at our industry-leading digital first omnichannel model. In 2022, over half of our sales and 55% of our GMV were digitally driven. Of that total, 29% of group sales came from online purchases, and another 23% were digital sales carried out in-store, what we call click-in-store sales, for a combined share of 52%. Both the share of online and the share of click-in-store are way ahead of our industry, which underlines our capacity to win in an increasingly digital retail economy. Now talking about our customers, our active customer base at 7.2 million people was down 4% year-on-year due to the soft consumption environment, but it was up 4% versus 2019.
Our active customer base included 3 million new customers in 2022, which shows the capacity of our brand and products to attract new buyers, even in a context of constrained purchasing power and heightened competition. Finally, the number of omnichannel customers was up 8% year-on-year and 50% versus 2019. On slide 11, we zoom in on the performance of our marketplace, a key part of our digital first omnichannel strategy, which demonstrated its success abroad as much as it did in France. In 2022, marketplace GMV was EUR 112 million, doubling versus 2021. Since its launch in November 2020, the marketplace cumulative GMV reached EUR 175 million. As you see on the chart, marketplace GMV has strong momentum, rising steady quarter after quarter since Q2 of 2021.
Growth is still driven by France with marketplace GMV of EUR 93 million, which is up 80% year on year. We are also seeing very solid growth out of Spanish marketplace, which was launched at the end of March and met with immediate success. Over 9 months, it's already delivered EUR 50 million in GMV. Similarly, we are seeing the same encouraging numbers from Italy, where we launched at the end of Q3. After a few months of operation, the Italian marketplace posted GMV of EUR 4 million. Overall, the marketplace accounted for 25% of group's total online GMV in 2022. The continued success of our selective and omnichannel marketplace demonstrates our ability to maintain our competitive edge on digital. Indeed, the marketplace has a number of benefits.
First, it drives incremental sales, and we've observed that in 20 numbers. When we have product shortages in our own MDM catalog, the marketplace offers adequate substitutes. In periods where consumers are particularly price and promotion sensitive, the marketplace offers a high shelf discount compared to our own offering, which is, as you know, a low discount model. In those cases, the marketplace attracts traffic and customers we otherwise would have lost, and some of these customers end up buying these ordered products. Thanks to this complementary offering, we have been able to protect and even improve in the second half our online market share in 2022, despite our lower product availability at discount levels. Second, as you well know, it is accretive to margins, especially so at international level.
Indeed, we have a European-wide sales commission margin, and our transportation costs are higher when we ship goods to customers far away from our warehouses. It's excellent news that our marketplace is at least as successful outside of France as it is on our domestic market, as it should materially enhance our omni-channel profitability once ramp-up is complete. Third, it is a key success factor in our customer acquisition strategy. Indeed, our marketplace, through its vast catalog, drives much more than its fair share in new customers to the group. Finally, it drives a very high number of organic, that is free, visits, which improves our overall online marketing ROI. This is a key asset overall on which to build going forward. On slide 12 now, we turn on our store network, which we continue to optimize through a highly disciplined and pragmatic approach.
At the end of 2022, we operate 357 stores, which is five more than at the end of Q3 and the same number as at the end of 2021. This is a result of 13 openings during the year, of which seven in France and six in the rest of Europe, and the same number of store closures, of which nine in France and four in the rest of Europe. As a result, on a net basis, we had two fewer stores in France and two additional ones in the rest of Europe at the end of the year. We continue to see stores as a key part of our omni-channel strategy, but in the current context, we continue to be very cautious and disciplined in the pace of developing our network and remain very attentive to the evolution of our category.
On slide 12, we focus on the progress we've made during the year on our ESG journey, and notably on our Good is beautiful CSR brand movement through our five commitments. On the E part of ESG, we continue to develop our sustainable product offering with 30% of our 23 collections now labeled Good is beautiful, which is a 10-point gain year-on-year, which is ahead of our 2025 trajectory. The number of furniture items repaired or repackaged grew by 42% to 25,000 products. Overall, we achieved a 20% reduction in carbon intensity across scopes one, two, and three, also ahead of the 2025 trajectory, and an 8% reduction of our carbon footprint, well in line with our SBTi-approved target of -15% by 2030.
I would also highlight that the vast relamping program we undertook a couple of years ago across the entire network to move from halogen lamps to LED lighting not only contributed to the carbon footprint reduction, but also mitigated the cost impact of rising energy prices last year. This program was complemented by a comprehensive energy savings plan across Europe. Finally, the Maisons du Monde Foundation donated EUR 1.3 million to NGOs in 2022 to preserve trees and forests, both from its own funds and also from Maisons du Monde customers through the rounding up at the till system. On the S, that is social, part, Maisons du Monde continued to progress on its diversity and inclusion program.
First, in the highly inflationary context, we granted exceptional allowances to support employees' purchasing power, representing an average cumulative amount of EUR 800 per employee across headquarters and stores in Europe. We also continued to promote equal opportunities, notably through apprenticeship programs for young employees at our stores and headquarters. We also doubled the number of disabled people in our teams, combined with training sessions to raise awareness among managers. Furthermore, Maisons du Monde actively promoted equal opportunities for women. 50% of our top positions are now occupied by women, and through a forceful action plan, we reached a gender equality index of 91%, up from 82% one year ago, which puts us amongst best in class. In December 2022, we signed a new three-year gender equality agreement with ambitious measures in favor of parenthood, workload balance, and women's leadership.
On the G part, the board's dedicated CSR committee started operating, confirming Maisons du Monde's ambition on the environmental and social fronts. ESG objectives have been included in the variable pay of all our managers. Our ESG performance has been recognized once again by a number of leading non-financial agencies. MSCI has granted us this year again an A grade. CDP gives us a B grade, also stable year-over-year and better than the average C grade of discretionary retail. Sustainalytics keeps us among their top 5% in global retail. This year they've nominated us industry top-rated ESG company. With this, let me hand over to Régis for the financial section and our 2023 outlook.
Thank you, Julie. Good morning to everyone. I'm really happy to be with you again to give you more color on our full-year performance and update you on our action plans. I will start on slide 15 with our sales bridge, a classic. As you see on the slide, our sales in 2022 stood at EUR 1.24 billion. They are down 5% versus the previous year as a result of a combination of soft category sales post pandemic and low consumer confidence. This is in line with the updated guidance we communicated last May. They come on the back of a robust comparable base as 2021 had benefited from a rebound in activity after a tough 2020, which had been marked by COVID-related lockdowns.
As described by Julie, and compared to 2019, our sales are actually up by 5% versus pre-pandemic levels, which attests to the strength of our omni-channel model and the attractiveness of our offer. The slide shows you the different building blocks of our 2022 performance. The main component of our lower sales in the period is a drop of EUR 87 million in like-for-like sales due to the challenging comps and soft consumption patterns. This drop was partly offset by a contribution of EUR 21 million on a net basis from stores opened in 2021 and 2022. Let's move on slide 16. We look at the sales performance here in greater granularity by breaking it down by quarter to allow you to visualize the sequence of our sales, as COVID created a complex reading on a year-on-year basis.
The graph shows a dual trend, with a year-on-year drop in each quarter of 2022, owing to tough comps and consumption trends in line with our revised projections, but better performance in each of these three quarters versus the same period in 2019. In more details, the graph illustrates the downward trends in home and furniture sales we saw beginning in Q2, and more specifically as of May. We also observed changing sales dynamics. In store, traffic was 7% down in H2 versus 2021, and web sales normalized after the pandemic related surge. Within our online sales, we saw a strong acceleration of the marketplace, and in term of segments, we saw strong growth in B2B, as Julie just described.
Recent performance confirms a soft trend of consumption at the moment, and still a low consumer confidence in an environment that remains strongly impacted by very high level of inflation. I will come back later in this presentation on our current trading. Stepping back to take a longer term view, our full year performance in 2022 is well above the pre-pandemic level, with group GMV of EUR 1.34 billion at 13% versus 2019, demonstrating that we have strengthened our business while navigating in a highly challenging environment. Moving now to slide 17, which breaks down our sales by category, channel and geography. Here too, there is a contrasting picture between a tough year-on-year comparison and different picture when comparing with pre-pandemic levels. I will start with category.
Both furniture and decoration sales were down year-on-year, with furniture's drop more pronounced at -7%, while decoration was down by 4%. Furniture sales reflect product availability issues that we saw at the start of the year in certain product families, including some best-seller products. These were particularly apparent in Q2, when furniture sales were down 14%. However, our team's effort to rebuild inventory led to significant progress in inventory replenishment with an immediate availability ratio of around 80% at year-end, versus 72 at end-September and 58 at the end of June. Through these efforts to ensure better supply, we managed to reduce the year-on-year drop in furniture sales to -8% in Q3 and -1% in Q4. Compared to 2019, furniture sales were down 4%, largely as a result of those supply issues, but also post-pandemic consumption trends. Decoration.
Decoration sales, on the other hand, were up by a strong 12% versus 2019 and were more resilient in the current context of consumption in 2022. With its broad decoration offering, Maisons du Monde remains attractive with various price ranges and our good management of commercial activities enabled the company to navigate through a soft category trend. Decoration sales accounted for 60% of total sales in 2022, up from 54 in 2019. Looking at channels, store sales were broadly stable both year-on-year and versus 2019, illustrating a very soft trend and decreasing traffic. Online showed a mixed picture, with sales decreasing 16% year-on-year as traffic normalized after a massive pandemic-related boost. Compared to 2019, online sales are still up 21%, showing a lasting change in consumer patterns.
It is important to now fully consider the role of the marketplace in those figures, as commented by Julie. If we refer to online GMV to include the consumer value creation of the marketplace, online GMV is only down 5% versus last year, in line with the sector. Online sales are 29% of the total, compared to about 25 in 2019, and online GMV is still a strong 34% of total group GMV. Finally, concerning geographies, sales both in France and in international markets were down by 5% in 2022. If we look at the international picture in greater detail, Italy, Spain performed a bit better than other non-French markets. Compared to 2019, we see that international markets have grown strongly 14% to represent today 46% of total sales.
While France is broadly stable, down 1%, notably considering a decrease of the net network footprint of 16 stores versus end of 2019. Closing on sales and now going on slide 18. Before entering in detail in the analysis of profitability, I would like to spend some time on what is our permanent approach to manage our equation. At Maisons du Monde, our constant focus is to strike a fine balance between driving sales growth through the implementation of strategic initiatives on the one hand, and ensuring profitability through cost and cash discipline on the other hand. This means navigating between being agile with short-term tactical moves to adapt to the market and being clear and firm on our midterm strategic ambitions. In the post-COVID world, this is an increasingly complex balancing act.
In a year that was marked by weak consumption and an extraordinary inflation that impacting the specialized retail, the home and decoration category, in a context of consumer uncertainty concerning the evolution of purchasing power, we're implementing, as of May, a strict cost containment plan to protect cash generation and growth margin without losing sight of our medium-term aims. On the following two slides, we will see how this translated on the EBIT and cash flow lines of our P&L and balance sheet. Let's start on slide 19 with our EBIT margin that landed at 5.5%, fully in line with our updated guidance of 5% or above. The waterfall on the slide shows you how we achieve this despite strong inflationary headwinds. I think it is important to pause and to flag the overall effect of inflation in 2022.
If we combine all elements in gross margin, logistics, SG&A, the full impact of inflation on our equation was around EUR 90 million, i.e., around 700 bips in a context of sales decrease, out of which EUR 65 million coming from freight. If we consider the EUR 12 million of 2021 COVID one-off not repeating in 2022, we come to a total of EUR 100 million of externalities. In reaction to this unprecedented adjustment, we managed to largely offset this through our action plan on pricing, operational efficiencies across the board, and strict cost containment for a total of more than 550 basis points. Let's start more in detail with gross margin, which was resilient at 64.7%, down 180 bips year-on-year, but higher than we planned at the end of H1.
We succeeded in managing well higher freight and raw material costs through efficient, firm negotiation with key suppliers and freight forwarders, reviewing contracts and negotiating rebates. We also managed very well a Euro-dollar exposure, folks, thanks to our hedging approach to mitigate fluctuation. Year on year effect is not material in 2022. It could have been much worse on this aspect, considering the FX context. We put in place as well a dynamic pricing strategy to gradually pass on rising costs and increase discount activities, limited this increase of discount to level comparable to pre-COVID, with the objective to remain agile regarding consumer trends. We also managed our mix well, focusing on higher margin decoration products. All together, this enable us to contain the decrease in relation to inflation costs and makes us confident we can return in the medium term to our historical level on growth margin.
On logistics, we continue to implement measures to increase efficiencies on transport and warehousing, to adjust efficiently operations to changes in our channel dynamics, and also to adapt our organization to enhance flexibility and be as variable as possible in a context of negative sales trend. This helps absorb the cost of the opening of our second distribution center that remains very important for our midterm agenda. On SG&A, we managed to keep our costs stable through significant cost saving to offset inflation, notably surging energy prices, a makeup for the absence of one of COVID-related subsidies on unemployment and rentals that we benefited from in 2021 for a total of EUR 12 million. The fourth full initiatives put in place as of the end of Q1 in reaction to strong category trend adjustments delivered fully above our initial ambition.
We have decided to maintain and complement those measures to make sure we keep the right agility in our resource allocation approach. A word on energy cost. This was obviously a major issue for all companies, but we were able to largely mitigate this thanks to our efforts in the past to become much more energy efficient for a LED relamping program in our stores. We have reduced our consumption by 30%. With the combination of well-anticipated negotiations with energy supplier in each country, we limited the effect of energy to EUR 5 million. In 2022, we also managed our marketing expenses with great discipline, reducing them overall by 7% while focusing them on strategic priorities, notably the ramp up in internationalization of our marketplace.
Concerning DNA, as you see on the waterfall, DNA increased due to higher amortization, depreciation, and effect of IFRS 16 treatment on higher rents for a total of EUR 3 million and account for a negative 90 basis points approximately due to sales decrease. Overall, while we lost operating leverage due to the negative performance in sales and faced again an extraordinary level of inflation, we managed to contain our costs and will continue this effort in 2023 in order to return sequentially to higher profitability levels. Let's now turn on slide 20 to free cash flow. As shown on the slide, it was down by EUR 58 million in the year to EUR 32 million, but this is slightly above the high end of the range we guided to in May of between EUR 10 million-EUR 30 million.
Cash flow was mechanically impacted by lower sales and EBITDA and the need to replenish inventory that ended below EUR 250 million. This is lower level versus June to 70, thanks to a good management of inventory in H2 via sourcing and commercial activities, but still up versus end of 2021. It led to a slightly higher working cap to total sales ratio of 1.3%, but we succeeded in limiting this impact through more favorable payment terms with key suppliers, adjustment to working capital requirements, and very disciplined allocation of resources. In relation to this, CapEx amounted to EUR 67 million. This is up EUR 15 million compared to 2021, but it's below our initial estimate of EUR 90 million. While preserving investments in key strategic projects, such as the marketplace or the second warehouse that we opened in 2022.
If we exclude the opening of the second warehouse, CapEx, as a percentage of total sales, was at 3.7%, stable versus 2021. On slide 21, you see that our earnings per share in 2022 stood then at EUR 0.80 compared to EUR 1.52 in 2021, excluding modernity proceeds. The main effect is in relation to the sales evolution and the margin adjustments that I've commented on. At our shareholders' assembly to be held on June 29th, we will propose a dividend of EUR 0.30 per share. This represents a payout ratio of 37%, which is in line with our policy of paying out between 30% and 40%.
We believe indeed it is very important to reward our shareholders in today's challenging context. We consider that this dividend illustrates as well our trust in our capacity to sustain positive cash generation and a solid balance sheet. Let me take the opportunity to give you a quick update on the second share buyback program launched in 2022 to buy up to 10% of our outstanding shares. At the end of January, we had completed about 54% of the program. The board of directors yesterday decided to cancel EUR 2.3 million of the shares Maisons du Monde has repurchased and that are held at the moment as treasury shares. This closes the financial part of this presentation. Let's now turn to our outlook on slide 22 with a trading update on the first quarter of this year.
We continue to face headwinds with continued soft consumption from persistently high inflation, geopolitical tension, and social unrest in France amidst further normalization of the home and furniture category after the atypical COVID period. If Christmas season and January sales delivered on expectations, the overall context remains complex, and we observed a soft level of demand, notably on high price points. Indicators of traffic or conversion show consumers' concern. At the same time, and it's a very important point, we are also facing a tough comparable base in Q1 as the drop in the category market began in Q2 of last year. In this context, Q1 has gotten off to a slow start. We expect Q1 to be the low point of the year, with sales down in the low double digits.
That said, as of May, the comparable base will start to ease. This will be even more the case in H2. In this environment of persistently soft trading conditions, we are very attentive to consumer behavior. March, April will be important indicators to more precisely forecast the year direction. Maisons du Monde is accordingly developing forceful initiatives to reinforce cost and cash protection in the continuity of what we put in place in 2022. We will continue to enforce a strict hiring freeze at our headquarters, restrict discretionary spending to offset inflation, and continue to prioritize essential CapEx. The growth model I described previously is our framework to operate.
When we next meet with you in May, we will specify our 2023 guidance with the benefit of a clearer view on how the year has shaped until and greater insights on consumption patterns. What I can say clearly at this stage is that the company is fully focused on 2023 priorities, further strengthening Maisons du Monde's balanced growth model while improving store operations, customer service to return to higher level of profitability and cash generation. With that, Julie, François-Melchior, and myself are now happy to take your questions.
As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, to ask a question via the phone, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, again, please press star one and one again. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type it in the question box and click Submit. We are now going to proceed with our first question. The questions come from the line of Clément Genelot from Bryan Garnier. Please ask your question.
Thanks. Good morning to all of you. Maybe two on my side. The first one rising gross margin. I understand that mix and promotions remain quite unclear. Could you give us the H1 and before your impacts of freight and FX along the gross margin? Just to come back on the Q1 sales, where does the pressure come from? I mean, is it only France-driven, or may it be all over Europe? Is it furniture? Is it in stores or maybe also online? Thank you.
Thank you, Clément. I will take those two questions and start perhaps with the second one on the current trading, vis-à-vis the indicators we are observing at the moment. Indeed, again, I just want to reemphasize the fact that the base of France is pretty high. I guess many of you have that. Currently, traffic and conversion are both negative. It's pretty much a European picture. In-store, we observe negative low to mid-single-digit traffic evolution, negative versus last year, again, versus last year, with a negative conversion. Again, I think it does reflect the current constraint on purchasing power. On the web as well, it's a negative low to mid-single-digit, but we have a more resilient conversion. It's notably on the back as well of the good performance of the marketplace.
To your question, it's not really about France. We have obviously different very local dynamics, but overall, the picture is pretty much the same regarding the consumer pattern. Vis-a-vis your first question on gross margin, for 2023, again, it's a mix of many elements. We all know that we will have a positive track coming from freight. This is something we have been flagging for a moment. It materially will be visible in H2, because of the timing of time to the purchase. At the same time, we will have negative headwind coming from USD and different other elements. I will not guide precisely on 2023 gross margin yet.
I think there will be a two-tier momentum in between H1 and H2. I would like to come back to 2022 gross margin performance. We have proven the capability at Maisons du Monde to improve gross margin versus our original expectation and to limit the effect of what has been externality coming from freight. We had very good negotiation with suppliers. Even if freight is massive, adverse, negative versus 2021, we never paid what was visible on the spot and probably half of that. It does demonstrate our capability to navigate through this environment very positively. For 2023, this will be the momentum, obviously always managing our negotiation. On the top line contribution of gross margin, we will manage promotion.
You mentioned that in your question. It's as an instrument to keep agile vis-a-vis the current dynamic of trend and trend of consumer.
Thanks. Thanks, Régis .
We are now going to proceed with our next question. The next question come from the line of Marie-Line Fort from Société Générale . Please ask your question.
Yes, good morning. My first question is about the prices. Do you expect to pass more price increase over 2023 and also to maintain your more pushing promotion policy that you implement in 2022? The second question is about your online performance restated from the marketplace. It looks like you are down significantly. My questions are, what does it say about the attractiveness of your brand online? And the second question is, are there really synergies between the marketplace and your online businesses? Are there real additional customers for MDM products?
Thank you, Marie. I'll take your second question around the marketplace. Indeed the online sales were 16% down year-on-year, but they were 21% up versus 2019. I think that's a very decent growth. It is true that the share of the marketplace out of total online sales did increase significantly, reaching 25% of online GMVs, about double the share of the year before. That's also because of international rollouts. Does that mean that marketplace is sort of cannibalizing direct online sales of Maisons du Monde, which, you know, could be another way to put your question? I really don't think so, figures don't show that. They do show that marketplace does drive incremental sales.
As I was describing earlier on, this is very much also linked to the current context. Well, actually to the context of 22, as we're speaking about that. We could see over the year, quarter after quarter, that the marketplace share out of online sales was going up and down at product families level, depending on the average availability level. Meaning like, when we had a low availability level on, say, mirrors or sofas, then the marketplace share was going up. As soon as our products came back in, it was going down. It was very much playing its role of complementarity, and we have, you know, all data demonstrating that. Now, it is true that in the context of very high price and promotion sensitivity, this is not where our Maisons du Monde offering is the most competitive, right?
It also explains our structurally high cross margin. We run with low discount. We don't want to extend them massively because it's, you know, it's not our model. Yes, we do increase that a bit, but it is true that in some contexts, such as the one that we're seeing now, people are very, very discount-driven. It is true that the share of the marketplace is going up, but this is just out of market context. Again, for example, during the sales season in January, the Maisons du Monde catalog also performed very well. On the, on the, really on the contrary, I do see that marketplace is a perfect tool to complement our Maisons du Monde value proposition and to adapt to this changing, you know, consumer context.
I trust that when the macro is evolving in a better way, you know, the share of Maisons du Monde will also go up, again, with improved availability. This is only at sales level. Now, to your question around new customers, it does indeed drive new customers to the group. Actually, much more than its fair share. We're saying, like it's 25% of online GMV. It's more than that at new customer acquisition level. That is logical because it has such a vast catalog of products that people, you know, they often come out of a product ad on Google. A lot of them come through marketplace products. At the end of the day, they end up being Maisons du Monde products, either at their first purchase or later on.
It is very true to say that marketplace is not just a sales incremental driver, but it's also a very, very effective tool to optimize our marketing ROI and to acquire new customers to the group. It's a very profitable driver for all of that. Not talking about the, you know, the being accretive to margins, but just answering the questions, Angie.
Thank you, Julie. Good morning, Marie. Back to your question regarding pricing and promotion for 2023. Both are part of the agenda. We will manage pricing at the rhythm of the launch of the new collection, as we did in the past. There will be some pricing adjustment. We have notably in January, increased slightly pricing on furniture. Promotion definitely will remain part of the toolbox, I would say, as it was in 2022. In the range of what we have been doing for a couple of months. Just to put figures there, promotion was roughly at a level of 8% in 2022. It's really close to the pre-COVID level that Maisons du Monde applied to its pricing strategy.
Higher than in 2021, which was very low due to the business trend and product availability. Just to flag and frame what it could be in 2023, we do not envisage to go much higher than the rate of 2022 at this stage. It remains an important tool to stay agile vis-à-vis the consumer trends and really use promotion as a tool to resume traffic, notably in stores. We will use promotion.
Okay. In terms of pricing, what could be the price impact, roughly?
Well, again, we will specify much more in detail in May. I think it's part of the different elements we are still working out for the year. Again, there will be a net price effect this year in 2023 on the back of the carryover of what we have done in the past. For future pricing approach, let's rediscuss in May once we have completely modeled the trajectory.
Thank you very much.
Once again as a reminder to ask a question over the phone, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. If you wish to ask a question via the web call, please type it in the question box and click submit.
I think we have a question of Julie Gasser regarding the convertible bond. I will read the question so it's clear for everybody. I will refinance your convertible bond maturing in December 2023. Back to what we have done in the past, I just remind you that last year we extended and renewed our credit facilities to EUR 150 million. We contracted a term loan and we have a positive cash flow generation. All in all, we are ready and ready to refinance the convertible bond by the end of the year. Another question coming from Angie, ING. Can you give some color on the cash flow items in 2023, including net working capital, debt repayment and share buyback?
Again, we will specify the guidance in May. It's valid for the top line for EBIT and cash flow direction. What I can say at this stage is just to rephrase what I said during the call. Our objective is to preserve and improve EBIT and the free cash flow this year. On cash flow, we are working on all elements to keep generating a positive cash flow year-on-year evolution.
We have another questions on the phone line. The questions come from the line of Clément Genelot from Bryan, Garnier & Co. Please ask your question.
Yes, thanks. Hi again. Maybe a last question for François-Melchior. What's your first observation after a few weeks within the group? Where do you see the low-hanging fruits and the other main challenges? Thank you.
Thank you for your question, Clément. As I said, I've really been deep diving into all our markets, going to stores, also the warehouse, and starting to meet with all of the top 50 managers of the company. What I've been finding out is of course, the strength of the model as I phrased it at the beginning, and also the very strong commitment of all the teams. This is for me, is the first thing that I have to highlight when you ask me about what I've been seeing. Now, low hanging fruit, that could be a little bit too early to speak about them. Again, we said we'd go back to you with more detail in May.
Certainly as, I think as you mentioned it, we've been focusing on the very immediate term, very much on the store operations and the customer service and satisfaction. Again, happy to discuss that and much further in May.
We have no further questions at this time. I would like to hand back the conference to Julie Walbaum CEO for closing remarks.
Thank you very much. As I prepare to step down now after nearly nine years at Maisons du Monde, first in charge of digital and marketing before becoming CEO in 2018, I would like to say how proud I am of all that has been achieved over the past few years, and how thankful I am to Maisons du Monde's fantastic teams whom I've had the privilege to work with over the years. Amidst the profound transformation of the retail industry and a series of challenging macroeconomic events, out of which not all companies emerged unscathed. Maisons du Monde has shown, in my view, remarkable agility and resilience. Over the past few years, Maisons du Monde has successfully established itself as a truly European loved brand with a distinctive omnichannel model and highly engaged customers.
It has also built exciting and profitable growth avenues, including our marketplace and also our B2B segment. The group has renewed and reinforced its talent team and built through enhanced processes and data, a more agile and robust organization. Maisons du Monde has embedded its raison d'être into bold ambitions across all ESG dimensions, making CSR a central part of its brand and of its strategy. This unwavering commitment has established the company as a sustainability leader in the home and living industry, and this leadership position has become now a key factor in attracting top talent to our teams, and we know how important that is for long-term company success. These are all great foundations on which to build today. I know that Maisons du Monde is in excellent hands to continue its journey with François-Melchior. I wish him and the teams every success.
To finish, I would like to extend again my deepest gratitude to Maisons du Monde's great teams for driving with me this material transformation over the past five years in what has been a busy environment. I would like to say a specific thank you to Régis for his remarkable skill set, his tireless commitment, and also his admirable ethics and values. Régis, it has been a great pleasure to work with you over the last two years. Finally, thanks to all of you on this call for your interest in the company and for our very interesting exchanges over the past few years. Thank you and goodbye for now.
Thank you, Julie, for your nice words. I would like as well, in the name of all associates to thank you. Thank you for your commitment, for all the initiatives under your leadership that shaped Maisons du Monde into a leader of its category, a unique and different company with a genuine CSR identity and meaningful raison d'être. On a more personal level, thank you as well very much for a fruitful and thorough handover. To all, let's take time in May to discuss more in detail the 2023 perspectives. I'm certainly looking forward to meeting you soon in person. As usual, Carole and Régis are obviously available today and in the coming days. Thank you and have a good day.
Thank you. Merci beaucoup.
Thank you. Bye.
Bye-bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.