In The Style sales surge as activewear, nightwear demand rockets

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 11, 2021

Another online fashion retailer’s trading update, another strong performance. Step forward UK-based In The Style, whose sales numbers surged over the October-December trading period.

So much so that the fast-growing e-commerce women's fashion firm said Monday, it’s now “very well-positioned to build on its strong momentum during 2021”, although there was no update on the business's rumoured IPO plans. 

That current outlook comes after strong total sales for the 13 weeks to 31 December, leapt 169% year-on-year to £13.5m. Sales to new customers also grew 45% and e-commerce order volumes jumped 95%.

Meanwhile, sales through the company’s digital partners grew by more than 400% “reflecting strong customer demand”, it noted.

But it was “increasing awareness” of the In The Style brand that underpinned the flyaway numbers, supported by the "strength of its influencer collaboration model and increased conversion and order frequency rates". 
 
Sales through the In The Style app increased more than five-fold with in-app sales representing more than half of total e-commerce sales, it said. The high mix of sales through this channel was also a significant contributing factor to a 50% increase in the e-commerce conversion rate, its added.

Overall sales numbers were boosted by launches of new product categories in the period “to extremely positive customer receptions”.

These were, unsurprisingly, centred on activewear and nightwear, given the stay-at-home/work-from-home lifestyles of its customer base. New product also included the brand’s first Christmas ‘His ‘n Hers’ pyjama collections, “as customers moved away from traditional ‘party season’ clothing”.

Also helping sales accelerate during the reported trading period was its creative ‘Black Friday TV’ social media campaign which saw the launch of 11 different collections, each in partnership with an In The Style influencer, over a six-day period.

CEO and co-founder Adam Frisby said In The Style “delivered a very strong performance during the important golden quarter trading period, building on what has been a transformational year for In The Style.

“We have proven yet again the strengths of our innovative influencer model, deep customer understanding and our well invested infrastructure as well as the relevance and adaptability of our product proposition”.

He added: "We believe that, underpinned by our innovative and flexible model, strong brand and growing customer base, In The Style is very well-positioned to build on its strong momentum during 2021”.