New brands and lockdown help Feelunique swing to profit

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 21, 2021

Beauty e-commerce platform Feelunique continued to grow fast in its latest financial year with the 12 months to the end of March seeing total sales rising 26% to £103.5 million. The year saw 660 new brands and more than 16,000 new products being added to the platform, including Jo Malone, Molton Brown and Olaplex.

Retail sales rose 24.4% and marketplace sales powered ahead by 695%, although the latter only accounted for 2% of total sales. 

That all meant EBITDA rose to £2.5 million, a massive turnaround compared to the £5 million loss of a year earlier. 

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The company also saw its active customer numbers increasing 42% to 1.3 million, with its total customer database now standing at 6 million. The increase in active customers reflected “effective marketing and CRM”, as well as the successful launch of “various compelling customer initiatives including the Feelunique Rewards loyalty programme, Beauty Kit proposition and informative multimedia content”.

In fact, FY21 was a record-breaking year for the company as it capitalised on the faster shift online in beauty due to the pandemic. It said that the breadth and depth of its product categories positioned it to take advantage of rising interest in skincare and professional at-home treatments.

CEO Sarah Miles said the performance “reflects our core strengths, namely our customer proposition, proprietary technology, and people. During the period we maintained our focus on enhancing the customer proposition by both expanding our brand relationships and driving continued improvements to the user experience. These initiatives were supported by ongoing investments in our proprietary platform to strengthen the foundations for Feelunique’s long-term and sustainable growth”.

She added: “We are well positioned to further capitalise on the structural growth in e-commerce penetration in the beauty market and accomplish our long-term growth objectives both in the UK and internationally.” 

The company was founded in 2005 and ships to over 120 countries worldwide with dedicated websites in the UK, France, Germany, Norway, China, EU and the US.