Designer furniture e–tailer Made.com has posted an increase in operating costs for the year ending in December 2014.
It was a year of optimistic investment for the company, which was founded when Ning Li noticed a gap in the furniture market whilst searching for a flat in Paris. Now the furniture maker has expanded into a number of new regions including the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany – Europe‘s largest furniture market.
Despite the operating costs, Made‘s annual revenues rose by 63.4% during the period reaching £42.8m – a company record.
CEO Ning Li remarked that the website is reaching a “tipping point in its evolution with continued rapid sales growth and improving financial metrics.
Overseas sales now contribute about 30% of total sales, demonstrating that the brand and the product have international appeal.”
The business has also been making a move towards traditional retail by opening a series of showrooms in London, Leeds and now Liverpool. It calls these showrooms “innovative” and “unconventional”, where “customers can touch and feel a selected range of items before purchasing online.”
Made is a founder member of the ‘Future Fifty‘ programme, a government backed scheme aimed at furthering the growth of 50 of the leading digital companies in the UK.
