Made.com boasts record sales as UK revenues leap

Online furniture seller Made.com, which sells everything from high-end desks to doormats, racked up record sales last year, it said on Wednesday.

The business, set up in London nine years ago by entrepreneur Ning Li and lastminute.com tech guru Brent Hoberman, saw revenues jump 37% to £173 million in 2018. Sales in Britain hit £100 million for the first time, accounting for more than half of its earnings. The group claims to be profitable in the UK and break even across the wider group.

Hoberman is still a non-executive director although Li stepped back in 2016, with chief operating officer Philippe Chainieux, pictured, stepping up to chief executive.

Chainieux said: “We had a strong year at a time when the retail sector is going through unprecedented change.” He added that more shoppers, mostly millennials, were willing to buy big-ticket items online, which has boosted sales.

This year it will add Portugal, Italy, Denmark and Sweden to the nine markets it sells to on the Continent. Made.com designs its own products.

Last year it raised £40 million to fuel growth from a clutch of investors including Partech Ventures, Level Equity and Eight Roads Ventures.