Strong Christmas helps Sosandar maintain record sales

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 13, 2021

​A 6% rise in quarterly sales might seem a modest return these days for a pureplay online business. But womenswear retailer Sosandar was far from modest about its performance Wednesday.

“We’re extremely pleased to report another period of record performance”, co-CEOs Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said, as the pair highlighted the result was achieved despite a “significantly reduced marketing spend and extremely strong comparatives achieved in the prior year”.

Sosandar put the gains down to investments made expanding its product range last year to include more loungewear, knitwear, denim and outerwear, which had been “pivotal to the trading performance, with new ranges resonating well with customers”.

So how did the three months trading period to 31 December go? Revenue rose to £3.98 million from £3.8 million a year ago and came in spite of the £1.61 million (66%) reduction in marketing spend.

Meanwhile, the EBITDA loss was also cut by 60% on a year ago and the company said it now holds net cash of £3.9 million as at 31 December, “reflecting the strong trading performance and continued careful cost management”.

It said December revenue was “significantly better than anticipated given [the] pivot to minimal marketing spend during the month”. There were also strong sales through John Lewis and Next, with December seeing the firm's highest monthly sales to date.

There were also continued improvement in returns, cut to 46% from 49% a year ago, reflecting its change in product mix.

Meanwhile, the retailer said its new year began with the launch of a new capsule range of activewear, which “is showing promising early results”, while spring designs have been planned with Covid-19 restrictions in mind, it noted.

“January trading has already started well, and knitwear, loungewear, outerwear and denim all continue to perform very strongly", it added.

It also said that as it operates a ”diversified and flexible supply base", the business  doesn't expect to see "any significant impact from Brexit on its ability to service its customers”.