Ideal Shopping Direct digital transformation push pays off amid Covid outbreak
Ideal Shopping Direct (ISD), a UK multi-channel home shopping retailer and owner of the Create and Craft and Ideal World TV channels, notched up record sales in 2020 of £150.6 million.
This was an increase of 16.1% year on year, with pre-tax profits of £8 million, compared with £2.2 million during the previous year.
In addition to this, the company – which sells into over 31 million homes in the UK via shopping channels on Sky, Freeview, Freesat, Virgin and late night ITV plus 35 million homes in America and on its own websites – has also reactivated nearly 22,000 previous customers and acquired more than 36,000 new customers during the past year.
ISD attributes this to agility throughout the coronavirus pandemic, flexible supply chain agreements in the face of Brexit and a reduced dependence on private label brands.
“Before the pandemic we were already well on the way with our digital transformation, which laid the foundations to navigate these choppy waters,” says ISD CEO Jamie Martin.
“And while we may have seen organic growth on our Ideal World TV shopping channel of around 30 to 40% in some weeks during the pandemic, the reality is that our business is now more effective and cost-efficient.
He adds: “We’ve done this by identifying and making the right strategic changes, whether trimming cost efficiency, margin efficiency or enhancing overall consumer appeal. It’s these small, but essential, tweaks that all add up at the same time to make the business more profitable.”
“By continuing to build on our solid foundations, innovate and tweak our business in new ways our evolution and growth is continuing apace.”
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