Cox & Cox Reports 75% Rise In Annual Sales

A strong Q4, with sales 85.4% up on the previous year, rounded off another strong year of growth. With Christmas in the mix (historically Cox & Cox’s busiest trading period), CEO Richard Bell had anticipated an extremely busy start to the quarter, with order volumes significantly up on last year.

“It’s the most time sensitive part of the year, so we aimed to pull demand forwards as much as possible, putting the onus firmly on operational efficiency and good customer service to cope with seasonal orders smoothly and in time.”

This effective planning paid off, and despite a 68% increase in the volume of orders compared to the Christmas period in the previous year, this impressive set of results was achieved, including an even sharper increase in EBITDA.

Performance continued into January, which was an extraordinary month. Customer reaction to the SS21 season launch was extremely strong, running at over 200% up against the equivalent days last year, boding well for 2021.

Key performance numbers, relative to Q4 last year:

• Q4 finished 85.4% up YoY
• Number of orders +68% YOY
• Financial Year (Feb 2020 - Jan 2021) finished 74.5% up YoY

The brand is in “rude health”, citing an increased press and social media presence (Instagram following increased by 12% in Q4, now over 340k), along with significant range growth that has been well received by customers.

“We have improved revenue per customer in every cohort, while more than halving the cost per acquisition for new customers. All departments continue to trade up, and we’ve added over 400 new lines for the SS21 launch, with more to come.”

Furniture continued to perform well at +149% YOY, and demand for desks and all home office continues to be strong as many businesses plan for a more hybrid approach to working post lockdown. As such, 2020 saw the launch of an expanded office range, reacting to the increased number of people working from home on a more permanent basis. Desks sales alone were up 831% and office chairs up 2036% for the Quarter on the previous year. Cox & Cox expect this course to continue into Q1 of 2021 and have further increased the range in response to the ongoing trend.

Ecommerce

- During the Q4 period, site users increased by +116% YoY

- Page views for the quarter up 93% YoY

- Room Builder, an augmented reality experience for customers launched, with a positive response from customers (https://www.coxandcox.co.uk/room-builder)

- Mobile continued to see a strong uplift with 48% of revenue coming from a mobile device in Q4, up from 38% in same period in 2019

- 67% of users are now using mobile to view the Cox & Cox website and this will be an
area of focus in 2021.

Outlook

“With Government warnings that lockdown measures are likely to extend beyond March, and advice not to book Summer holidays, we expect another year of staycations, garden living, and working from home. We have planned meticulously to cater for the needs of our ever growing design-conscious customer base to ensure we can provide them with the products they need to make the most of this new way of living.” - Richard Bell, CEO

Source : Cox & Cox

Image : Cox & Cox CEO Richard Bell

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