Sosandar expects full-year sales of £1.3m, focuses on social media

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 16, 2018

Online womenswear brand Sosandar seems to be on the right track with its affordable, yet premium-looking proposition, according to a trading update it published on Wednesday.

The relatively new company, founded in 2016 and publicly listed in November 2017, said it expects full year revenue for the 12 months to 31 March to be £1.34m, after like-for-like sales increased by an impressive 268% in the second half.

Growth has been boosted by an ambitious marketing campaign to increase brand awareness and gain new customers, underlined by an expansion of its product range and an increase in stock of popular lines. Sosandar said customers have responded well to the “unique” in-house design, and that return levels are nearing industry levels.

However, the British business omitted any reference to its losses, which widened to £2.1 million in the nine months compared to £1 million in the prior year. Instead, it focused on margin improvements, which it achieved as a result of the increased order quantities and higher full-price sales. Gross margin for the financial year is expected to be at 49.3%, versus 37.8% in financial year 2017.

"We are delighted with the progress the business has made over the year to 31 March 2018. As a company early in its development, we are focused on increasing brand awareness and new customer acquisition and our KPIs show strong growth in these areas. It is particularly pleasing that we recorded our highest monthly sales figure in March 2018 (which was subsequently beaten by a further 32% growth in April 2018), demonstrating that our business is less seasonal than peers, and the speed at which we are growing,” said Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, Joint CEOs.

“We are constantly refining the efficiency of our marketing spend, and beginning to benefit from improved margins as we increase our minimum order size. This momentum has continued into the new financial year, and we look forward to updating the market further at full year results."