Made.com gives staff a stake in business as it hits sales milestone
Online furniture retailer Made is to give its staff a stake in the business.
All 650 employees, apart from senior management, will receive the same number of share options vesting in equal tranches over the next three years.
The move is in recognition of their work during the coronavirus pandemic.
The value of said share options will depend on any future valuation, but a Made spokesperson said they expect it to be “meaningful…probably equivalent to six months pay for the typical employee in a showroom, customer service or warehouse. Hence the figure of £10k plus that has been included in an article by The Guardian.”
Philippe Chainieux, CEO at Made, says: “I have been delighted by the way in which everyone at Made has pulled together as a team during this unprecedented time.”
“There have been many challenges for the retail sector this year, but I am proud to say that thanks to the structure of our business and the tireless efforts of our people, we have emerged from the crisis in a very strong position.
“The share options are a way of saying ‘thank you’ to colleagues for their past efforts but also a way to give them a stake in the exciting future we see for our brand.”
The announcement came as the business prepared to file accounts for 2019, showing group revenue increased 22% to £212 million, the 10th consecutive year of growth.
The pureplay also reports strong trading in 2020, despite being forced to shut its showrooms across Europe at various times, due to Covid-19.
Cumulative sales, since the business launched, passed £1 billion last month and the company now has more than one million active customers who shopped in the last year and over a million followers on Instagram.
Last month, Black Friday was the busiest day in Made’s 10-year history, with UK sales doubling year-on-year.
Chainieux comments: “We have seen a rapid acceleration in the shift to online this year, an evolution which was predicted to take four or five years taking place in a matter of months.”
“Covid has forced more people to work from home throughout this year, we have seen a huge increase in demand for home offices, eg. desk sales up 200%.”
“Whilst there will undoubtedly be a return to the office in due course, we believe the ability and requirement to work from home on a part week basis will remain.”
He concludes: “Reaching £1 billion sales since launch is an important milestone for the company. We are now firmly targeting the billion annual sales mark as we continue to build a leading global design brand.”