Sosandar unveils plans for opening of physical stores
Sosandar is to develop its omnichannel strategy with the launch of its own physical stores.
The online women’s fashion retailer expects to have opened its first shops in “affluent towns with thriving high streets” by the spring of next year. Investment in the programme will be self-funded from Sosandar’s existing cash resources.
Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, co-chief executives of Sosandar, said: “We are extremely excited about the next stage of our growth journey. Our decision to open our own stores is the logical next step as we look to offer our customers more ways to engage and shop with Sosandar.
“We know that the added value of being able to touch and feel our clothes will appeal to our target customers. With a clear rollout plan in place and strict criteria around the location of potential stores, we are confident that our stores will enable us to accelerate our market share and increase the awareness of our brand.”
Sosandar has also announced that it will be expanding its international presence through the signing of third-party brand agreements with The Iconic in Australia and The Bay in Canada. This will enable it to begin selling online with the retailers in the fourth quarter of the current financial year.
As it moves to becoming an omnichannel retailer and looks to grow its margins, it will also be moving away from price-led promotions by transitioning customer behaviour to the non-promotional led proposition it already operates across its third-party channels.
In an update on the six months to 30 September, Sosandar said trading had been resilient with net revenue growing by 69% to £22.3 million. However, the retailer posted a pre-tax loss of £1.3 million compared to a profit of £0.1 million a year earlier.
Sosandar said its autumn trading period has started well despite the recent unseasonably warm weather.
Looking ahead, Hall and Lavington said: “Whilst we do expect to see a short-term impact as we transition the business to offer less promotional activity, we still expect to be in growth and remain profitable. This strategy is undoubtedly the right course of action to deliver greater profitability and therefore greater value to our shareholders.”
