Women’s fashion brand Sosandar says it is focused on profitability after a year in which it has opened its first shops and moved away from discounting. It sold through third-party partnerships with ten retailers, including the Next and M&S websites, during the year. However it said today that it had not made any sales through M&S since the April cyber attack on the retailer, and did not now expect to do so until August.
Sosander today reported narrowed pre-tax losses of £0.1mn (down from £0.3mn a year earlier) on revenues of £37mn (-20%) in the year to March 31 2025. The brand had previously expected to report a pre-tax profit of £0.5mn. In its current financial year, first-quarter sales were 15% up on last time, and the brand now expects to see full-year sales up by 18%.
The brand opened its first store, in Chelmsford, during the year and by the end of the year had six stores, funded from existing resources.
Stores as marketing tool
Sosander co-CEOs Ali Hall and Julie Lavington say that the opening of six stores through the year makes the brand into a “true multichannel retailer”, with products now sold through its own website and stores, and through 10 third-party partners.
“We knew stores would be a great marketing tool, and that is proving to be the case, as 60% of customers in store are brand new to Sosandar,” they said. “Additionally, we also believed we would see an increase in traffic and revenue in the areas in which stores are located, and that has happened.”
They said that conversion and revenue in its four stores in market towns (Chelmsford, Marlow, Bath and Harrogate) was higher than those in shopping centres (Cardiff and Gateshead). “We believe that the demographic of our typical customer in market towns is more concentrated, and they more regularly shop in the area,” they said. “This combination is driving higher conversion.”
Hall and Lavington expect to see greater brand awareness, higher margins, lower returns and more efficient marketing as a result of the stores.
