Cox & Cox Continues To Weather The COVID-19 Storm

Online homewares retailer Cox & Cox has seen sales rise by 59% YoY in Q2, following on from an equally successful Q1.

Customer orders were up 75% YOY, consistently driven by increased sales in outdoor living and furniture. Not surprisingly, the biggest uplifts were in desks, office chairs and shelf units as customer buying shifted to creating more permanent home offices. In Outdoor Living, hanging chairs, both single and double, sold in record numbers. Paint was launched towards the end of the Quarter and has proved to be an immediate success.

Dani Taylor, Buying Director at Cox & Cox, explained “We spend a lot of time choosing the perfect paint colours to use on our photoshoots and understand how overwhelming it can be to choose the perfect shade for your home. Our customers frequently ask about the paint we use, so we decided to create a small and considered collection that would pair well together.”

While working hard to keep up with the strong increase in demand, the onus was put on operational efficiency, resulting in contribution ending 6.0 percentage points up on budget and 4.6 percentage points up on last year. ‘This is a very strong set of results, and we have continued to grow share and improve customer performance throughout the Quarter. Most encouraging is the way that the business has responded to the ‘golden problems’ that running ahead of forecast has created, developing and executing solutions quickly and collaboratively.’ says CEO Richard Bell.

With sales peaking in May, Cox & Cox finished the month 96% up on last year. The company’s decision to keep marketing aggressively continued to pay off, with improved returns and performance across the board. Customer retention has increased 25% YoY over the last quarter, while new customer acquisition has more than doubled. All e-commerce channels have seen significant increases, breaking traffic volume and concurrent user records.

Outlook Autumn sees some exciting new product launches, including freestanding kitchens, and the much anticipated launch of Christmas ranges for 2020. Having delayed marketing activity towards the end of Quarter 2 to rebuild stock levels, and following a virtual Christmas press event, consisting of a series of 7 trend films recorded specifically for the purpose, Q3 is already off to a strong start with August running at 170% up. ‘We go into Autumn with a much bigger, more engaged base than we were expecting, and our new ranges and Christmas are already selling well. We expect to attract even more interest as we get deeper in the season and operationally are well placed to take full advantage.’ says Bell.

Source : Cox & Cox

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