Online fashion firm enjoys record quarterly revenues
Cheshire based online clothing business Sosandar said momentum has continued throughout the Autumn and into Winter as the company experienced a record quarter for revenue, orders, site visits and conversion.
In a trading update for the three months ended December 2018, the firm, founded by two former fashion journalists, said that revenue for the period was slightly ahead of expectations at £1.6m, a 219% increase on the same period in 2017 and higher than the company’s revenue for the entire prior financial year.
Highlights for the period, compared with the same time last year, included increased customer loyalty to the brand, after a 209% increase in the customer database to almost 100,000, and a 10% increase in average order value, to £105.58.
Repeat orders rose 527% to more than 20,000, while the number of orders increased 221% to 35,183.
Today’s update said the growing customer base and economies of scale in the business are creating efficiencies with the EBITDA loss down on the prior year.
Returns were at 49%, having decreased slightly over the period as anticipated, reflecting the different product mix in Autumn/Winter
The business also boasts a strong balance sheet with net cash of £4.6m, as at December 31, 2018.
Sosandar’s content-driven marketing strategy, utilised across all its digital and print media platforms, has been further enhanced by a diverse and growing celebrity and social influencer fanbase.
New celebrities seen wearing Sosandar clothing include Zoe Ball, Susanna Reid, Melanie Sykes and Una Healy.
As a result of the strong trading so far this year, the company expects revenue for the full year to be slightly ahead of current market expectations, with the net loss for the year in line.
Joint chief executives Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said: “We are pleased to be reporting another period of substantial growth over the key trading months to 31 December, driven by strong full price sales and high sell through rates, combined with a successful seasonal sale at the end of period.
“We are delighted by the engagement we are building with our customers, evidenced by the increase in visits, orders and especially conversion and margins which are already comparing favourably with established businesses.
“We are selling well across existing categories, such as partywear and leather, and also seeing a promising performance in new areas such as loungewear and accessories.
“Combined with a substantial increase in repeat orders and a significant uplift in conversion rates to 3.47%, this highlights the underlying quality of our products and the sizeable growth opportunities we have with the Sosandar brand.”
