Search News

Results: 1-10 of 1048


Start again

22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime...

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with...

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to...

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.

8 Mar 2024

Daniel Blackham, editor of industry magazine BikeBiz, has been writing about his experience of completing the Cytech technical one qualification at training provider Spokes People in Milton...

6 Mar 2024

Cytech partner Activate Cycle Academy, the largest and most recognised training provider of bike maintenance and technical training courses to the UK’s cycle industry, recently welcomed a...

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of...

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.

Back to news menu

Craft boom drives Hobbycraft sales up

Posted on in Business News , Creative News

Hobbycraft has seen its full year sales increase by 7.6% to £151.8 million thanks to a boom in arts and crafts, and home baking.

The arts and crafts retailer enjoyed a near 5% rise in sales following the opening of new stores across the country, as well as customer demand growing thanks to programmes such as the BBC's The Great British Bake Off, The British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throwdown, inspiring both adults and children to get more creative.
"TV is a catalyst that kicks it off, then social media takes off afterwards and it gets its own momentum," said Catriona Marshall, chief executive of Hobbycraft.

She said young adults were increasingly being inspired to have a go at traditional crafts such as sewing, knitting or crochet by seeing items they wanted on social media sites such as Instagram and Pinterest.

Sales of sewing machines rose 11% over the year after a 30% increase the year before while sales of thread increased 30% as a new generation of people picked up skills their grandparents would have been familiar with from YouTube videos. "It has skipped a generation," Marshall said.

Marshall said Hobbycraft had been able to capitalise on demand by cutting prices and improving its distribution and supply chain as well as finding better ways to communicate with customers. The group now has a 1.9 million-strong Hobbycraft Club, as well as a new initiative which helps fans share their creations online.

Despite troubles elsewhere on the high street, the £3bn UK craft market is currently growing by 4.5% a year.
Marshall said: "Three years of business transformation and investment in infrastructure are paying off. Strong growth was driven by our newly-created distribution centre and supply chain initiatives, together with an expanding store network and established online trading platform. Sales reached record levels, growing for the sixth consecutive year to £151.8 million and with an increase in like for like sales at store level."

Selling online is also helping to boost sales. Hobbycraft's website increased sales by 36.4% over the year and Marshall said it was keeping up that pace of growth. Next month the company will begin selling abroad via its website as it aims to build online sales above the current 7% proportion.

Back to news menu

Useful links

If you have any other queries please contact us.