Boohoo.com has unveiled plans to build a new automated warehouse that will give it the capacity to deliver sales of £3bn a year.
The fast fashion retailer, a Top150 trader in IRUK Top500 research, plans to spend £150m over the next three years to build a 600,000 sq ft automated super warehouse site that it says will give it the room it needs to handle annual sales of more than £2bn. That’s on top of ongoing work to extend its Burnley warehouse to 1.9m sq ft, enough to support sales of £1bn.
“The growth rates of the group’s brands are accelerating the need for more warehouse capacity,” said Boohoo.com in a trading statement. The retailer is looking to raise £50m to fund investment plans by issuing more shares.
Boohoo.com said that its multibrand strategy is helping to drive its growth, along with a focus on customer service. It said that overall revenues reached £120.1m in the three months to May 31, 106% up on the same time last year, while like-for-like sales were 78% ahead of last time. Of that, £86.4m was generated by Boohoo.com, with sales up by 48% on last time, including UK sales up by 41% while sales in the rest of Europe were up by 44%. PrettyLittleThing sales reached £30.7m, 305% up on last time, while Nasty Gal saw its revenues reach £2.9m and, said the retailer, had made “a promising start”.
Joint chief executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said: “Across the group, the combination of broadening product ranges, strong brand image competitive prices and good customer service continues to drive sales momentum, whilst the inclusion of our new brands is proving the potential of our multi-brand strategy in delivering strong group revenue growth.”
The retailer also said that it had now moved most of its English language markets to a new website platform, improving both speed and functionality.
