A strong Q4, with sales 85.4% up on the previous year, has rounded off a strong year of growth for homewares retailer Cox & Cox, with online and mobile – along with AR – lifting the company.
According to the company’s figures, during the Q4 period, site users increased by +116% YoY with page views for the quarter up 93% YoY. Mobile continued to see a strong uplift with 48% of revenue coming from a mobile device in Q4, up from 38% in same period in 2019 – 67% of users are now using mobile to view the Cox & Cox website and this will be an area of focus in 2021.
With Christmas historically Cox & Cox’s busiest trading period, CEO Richard Bell had anticipated an extremely busy start to the quarter, with order volumes significantly up on last year.
“It’s the most time sensitive part of the year, so we aimed to pull demand forwards as much as possible, putting the onus firmly on operational efficiency and good customer service to cope with seasonal orders smoothly and in time,” he says.
This effective planning paid off and, despite a 68% increase in the volume of orders compared to the Christmas period in the previous year, this result was achieved, including an even sharper increase in EBITDA.
Performance continued into January, which was an extraordinary month. Customer reaction to the SS21 season launch was extremely strong, running at over 200% up against the equivalent days last year, boding well for 2021.
The brand is in “rude health”, says Bell, citing an increased press and social media presence – Instagram following increased by 12% in Q4, now over 340,000 – along with significant range growth that has been well received by customers.
Bell adds: “We have improved revenue per customer in every cohort, while more than halving the cost per acquisition for new customers. All departments continue to trade up, and we’ve added over 400 new lines for the SS21 launch, with more to come.”
Furniture continued to perform well at +149% YOY, and demand for desks and all home office continues to be strong as many businesses plan for a more hybrid approach to working post lockdown. As such, 2020 saw the launch of an expanded office range, reacting to the increased number of people working from home on a more permanent basis. Desks sales alone were up 831% and office chairs up 2036% for the Quarter on the previous year. Cox & Cox expect this course to continue into Q1 of 2021 and have further increased the range in response to the ongoing trend.
Looking ahead, Bell says: “With Government warnings that lockdown measures are likely to extend beyond March, and advice not to book Summer holidays, we expect another year of staycations, garden living, and working from home. We have planned meticulously to cater for the needs of our ever growing design-conscious customer base to ensure we can provide them with the products they need to make the most of this new way of living.”
