Online beauty retailer Feelunique.com has been recognised for its positive sales growth this year and has ranked 24th in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 index.
The list, which ranks the UK‘s fastest growing private companies, was published last week and a number of retailers feature, highlighting the resilience of the sector despite economic difficulties.
Feelunique was the third highest ranked retailer behind online retail marketplace Notonthehighstreet.com, which came in at number nine and homewares specialist Sofa.com which ranked 18th, results which highlight the growing popularity of online shopping.
Based in Jersey, the retailer was the only company from the Channel Islands to feature in the prestigious list and Aaron Chatterley, CEO of Feelunique, said that the news has instilled confidence.
“The online beauty product market continues to grow strongly despite the wider consumer recession,” he commented.
“Our investment in content and social media means that we can offer a level of beauty consultancy that consumers had previously only been able to find in high-end department stores. We remain confident that the company will continue to grow strongly.”
Despite the dip in consumer confidence in recent months following fears over job security and a decrease in disposable income, retailers like Feelunique are continuing to prosper.
In October, the company announced that it had exceeded its like-for-like sales target for the first half of the financial year as sales rose 57 per cent to £10.4 million in the period and is forecasting sales in the current financial year of over £25 million.
Other retailers featured on the list include online bike retailer Chain Reaction Cycles at 58, youth fashion brand Jack Wills at 63 and outdoor equipment retailer Go Outdoors at 80.
Online sports retailer Wiggle, which was recently the subject of a £180 million private equity takeover, was ranked at number 85 while Cath Kidston came in at number 91.
Sir Richard Branson of Virgin, which has been the title sponsor of the league table for all 15 years, explained that these strong performances were particularly encouraging considering the current economic climate.
“2011 has been another challenging year for the UK in political and economic terms. Business has faced another tough year with uncertainty over the Euro and low economic growth,” he said.
“Against this economic background the strong performance of the Fast Track 100 companies is to be especially applauded.”
