Sosandar narrows losses as sales rise during pandemic

The fashion etailer trimmed EBITDA losses to £1m during the six months ending September 30, compared with a £2.7m loss the prior year.

Gross profits increased 48% year on year to £1.5m as revenues surged 52% to £4.3m. 

The number of orders it received jumped 48% to almost 96,000.

Sosandar said it enjoyed a “record month of revenue” during October as it built trading momentum into its second half.

The pureplay said it registered a 17% uplift in revenue between September and November compared with the same three months last year.

It delivered those gains despite a 49% reduction in marketing spend during the same period.

Sales were boosted by Sosandar’s partnerships with John Lewis and Next. The business started selling through the retailers’ websites earlier this year and said those launches had been “successful”.

Sosandar joint chief executives Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said they were “delighted” with the retailer’s performance despite operating in “one of the most challenging periods ever for the retail industry”.

The duo said they had “cautiously increased expenditure on new customer acquisition” since September and “gained momentum” as a result.

They added: “Looking ahead, while there remain short-term uncertainties due to Covid-19, our long-term focus has not wavered and continues to be on the development of our product, infrastructure and service alongside, most importantly, further building our customer base.

“The scale of our opportunity is substantial and we are well placed to deliver on our ambition for Sosandar to be a long-term, sustainable success.”