Made.com sales grew by 38% in its latest year, even though supply chain disruption meant up to a fifth of its best performing ranges were unavailable during peak trading, the digital furniture brand says in an end of year update today.
Covid-19 restrictions meant that factories in Vietnam were closed for periods, while global supply chains were also disrupted. “These disruptions,” says Made in today’s year-end trading update, “led up to 20% of key high performing furniture ranges to be unavailable during peak trading this autumn”. However, all of the key factories are now open while disruption to shipping is also easing.
Made, ranked Top350 in RXUK Top500 research, reported gross sales of £220m in the year to December 31 2021 – 25% ahead of the same time last year. UK sales of £115m were 25% up on last year, while continental Europe sales of £105m were 26% ahead. Compared to the same time two years ago, sales were 69% ahead.
In the year to the same date, sales of £434m were 38% up on the previous year – and 79% higher than two years ago. UK sales of £228m were 38% ahead of last year, while Europe sales of £206m were also 38% up on the previous year. Active customer numbers grew by 26% to £1.3m on last year.
Philippe Chainieux, chief executive of Made, says: “I am delighted with how well the business is performing, with strong customer growth in all markets and the self-help measures implemented in H2 2021 now mitigating the impact of industry-wide supply chain issues. Indeed, by the end of H1, we expect average lead times to be significantly below pre-lockdown levels and, with the acceleration of the homeware product range, the company is well positioned to deliver its strategic initiatives in 2022.”
Future strategy
Looking ahead, the brand now expects to cut order lead times to between three and four weeks in the first half of 2022 – representing a significant improvement in how long it takes for orders to get from order to the customer. That’s been enabled by building up stock in advance and by investing further in warehousing and logistics.
Made says its marketplace is now moving beyond a beta test following a “very encouraging performance during 2021”. So far, more than 100 designer makers, artisans and small brands are selling on the curated marketplace, whose technology infrastructure now includes drop ship capability and automated onboarding procedures.
Made sells online to eight European markets, and has seven showrooms, including flagships in London and Paris.
Oct 2022: corrected mention of half-year to full-year.
