UK based online fashion designer; Boohoo has notched an unprecedented sales performance and has claimed there is more in the offing as its popularity continues to rise.
The phenomenal rise in sales has been attributed to the return of cycling shorts to the fashion center stage. Co-founder of Boohoo, Carol Kane expressed surprise at the emergence of cycling shorts as the summer’s “biggest fashion trend.”
“I wore them in 1992,” she disclosed to investors
Boohoo’s excellent corporate affairs have also seen the company make smart moves including the acquisition of PrettyLittleThing and NastyGal fashion labels—both of which are also making waves in the market. The company reported a meteoric rise of 50% in half-year sales, amounting to almost of £395.3 million. Pre-tax profits witnessed a 22% rise putting it at 24.7 million between March and August, 2018.
Cycling Shorts Are Back
Ms. Kane enthused further at her enchantment about the re-emergence of cycling short which was the in-thing in the 90s.
“This summer we saw the return of the 90s cycling short – I was hoping this was a trend that would never re-emerge,” she told investors.
Cycling shorts are now fancied by the likes of Kim Kardashian, and her clout contributed immensely to the reemergence of the shorts which can be purchased at different price range across the fashion online platforms.
Boohoo social media influence has also witnessed an expanding congregation of followers, and this has been owing to its well-planned collaboration among celebrities as well as Insta-friendly brand ambassadors.
With a 200% increase in followers, its phenomenal rise on Instagram in the last 12 months is not in doubt. Its Facebook page had a 40% increase while followers on Twitter surged to a record high of 200,000 followers.
Marketing Strategy
As a strategic marketing scheme, Ms. Kane noted the company purposely launched collections with actress Zendaya and body positivity model Ashley Graham going by their massive followership on Instagram.
“It was a really good fit for us,” she said while also acknowledging the positive influence of social media activity and marketing campaigns to the success of Boohoo in the first half of the year. This performance has been the strongest in the group’s history; I’m very proud to say this.”
Narrowing down to the success recorded by the two fashion label in its belt, PrettyLittleThing had a gross sale of 168.6 million which is a 132% rise while NastyGal had a 111% rise worth 177.7 million.
Spurred by the success recorded, forecast for revenue growth has increased with a sales margin now put at 38% to 43% which is higher to the anticipated growth rate of 35% to 40%.
Scouting the Best Hands
Boohoo is putting plans in place to expand its organizational structure, and observers saw a move in the direction following the announcement of Primark’s chief operating officer John Lyttle as the company’s new chief executive.
Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane who has been acting in the capacity of joint chief executives will assume new roles with the recent expansion in organizational structure from the new business year starting in March 2019.
Mr. Kamani will assume office as the group executive chairman of the company while Ms. Kane’s new designation will be the group co-founder and executive director.
Both Ms. Kane and Mr. Kamani assured investors that their new designation is no reason for uncertainty as they will maintain a close working relationship with Mr. Lyttle as he enters the new position of office.
Enthusing on the achievements for the first half of the year, both Kamani and Kane said:
“Our group results for the first half year show yet another strong performance, delivering record sales and profits. All of our brands performed extremely well across all territories as we continue to gain market share.”
Boohoo’s astounding success has seen the company spreading its tentacles to over 11 million customers in more than 100 countries across Europe and America.
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