Online homewares retailer Cox & Cox has seen sales rise by 64% YoY in Q1 and 79% season to date, with growth at well over 100% since mid-March.
In fact, April 2020 saw the Cox & Cox website receive highest ever traffic levels, with a 20% increase on previous record month of November 2019.
The company has also seen a triple digit rise in online traffic to record levels, which CEO Richard Bell puts down to “Range expansions, smart marketing, and a growing reputation for quality and service.”
So just how did Cox & Cox pull this off during a global pandemic?
With the homes and gardens sector identified as one of the key industries seeing increased demand, as consumers spend more time at home, both working and focusing on completing home improvement projects, Cox & Cox has been well placed to fulfil their needs.
“We completely overhauled our dispatch operations following an extremely busy and challenging Christmas, and it has thankfully put us in a very good position. We switched to remote working weeks ahead of the lockdown to protect the warehouse and have been able to stay fully functional and delivering within our time promises. As a result, Cox & Cox service scores are at a 12-month high,” says Bell.
Now the weather has changed, interest and engagement with gardens and the outdoors is especially high. Cox & Cox’s outdoor living range has been particularly successful. A conscious effort to increase the outdoor furniture offering has proved to be the right choice.
“Having backed the buys with direct containers to secure our supply chain, making them all own brand and exclusive in the UK market gave us a definite edge over other retailers,” says Bell. “We significantly grew our outdoor furniture range and expanded into new outdoor areas for the first time, including water features, sunshades and parasols,” he continues. As a result, Cox & Cox’s Outdoor category is over 170% up season to date.
Cox & Cox has also substantially increased its Indoor Furniture offerings, which is performing well at 55% up, particularly stools and desks, given the new trend for home offices, while other new range launches into pet, children and hardware continue to drive frequency and retention, with a first paint range imminent.
With the growth in retention, and improvements in customer acquisition, the company expects growth to remain strong through Q2, though Bell remains cautiously optimistic. “There is still a long way to go, with so much still uncertain,” he says.
