Online retailer invests £1.6m in new headquarters

Retailer Move Dance has invested £1.6m in new premises at Airport City as part of its growth plans.

The Manchester-based online retailer has signed a ten-year lease on a new 17,000 square foot warehouse and has completed the build of a new 2,500 square foot office at the Airport City campus.

Established by two Mancunians in 2007, the technology-first business is on track to achieve revenue of £8.5m by the end of the financial year and plans to pass the £10m mark in 2020.

Move Dance’s new office

The 50-strong team recently celebrated a bumper Black Friday – increasing year on year revenue by 79% in the sales event.

The retailer’s journey began with a small shop in Manchester’s Northern Quarter – run by John Cormack who went on to partner with eCommerce professional Robin Gillyon to establish the online shop.

Just over £1k of sales were secured within 24 hours of launching the website – representing a week’s takings at the Northern Quarter store – inspiring the entrepreneurs to set their sights on becoming Europe’s leading online dancewear retailer.

Move Dance’s sales surpassed its biggest European competitor in 2017 and the retailer now sells in over 120 countries worldwide.

As well as investing in its own in-house team of developers and eCommerce specialists who have built a best-in-class website, the retailer has secured a competitive edge by designing and manufacturing its own range of quality, affordable dancewear to complement its huge choice of popular third-party brands.

After starting off with manufacturing a small range of tights, Move Dance’s in-house team now design everything from tutus to technically advanced ballet shoes, and sales of its own-brand products have passed that of  market-leading brands.

The Move Dance website was recently recognised at the Northern eCommerce Awards, where the retailer scooped eCommerce Website of the Year – Sports, Leisure and Toys.

Robin Gillyon, Joint Managing-Director at Move Online Retail, said: “After occupying several locations on our journey to here, we now have state-of-the-art facilities for our office and fulfilment staff – and enough space to continue progress in growing our business across the globe as a leading dancewear brand and retailer .”