Hobbycraft sales continue to grow
Posted on in Creative News
As reported in The Times, the British love of traditional hobbies and arts and crafts appears to be undimmed despite - and, indeed, in part because of - the relentless rise of modern technology, if the results of one national retail are any guide.
Hobbycraft said that it had achieved its eighth consecutive year of sales growth, thanks largely to the expansion of its burgeoning online business.
The figures mark the end of the tenure of Archie Norman as the company's chairman after more than four years. The retail industry veteran became chairman of Marks & Spencer last year. He has been replaced at Hobbycraft by Matt Davies, a former boss of Halfords and Pets at Home.
Revenue at the crafts retailer, which has 90 shops in the UK, rose by 6.4 per cent to £168.5 million. Its store-based business grew by 2.3 per cent, but its online business expanded by more than a fifth to represent almost 10 per cent of sales. The company opened four new shops last year.
Hobbycraft was acquired by Bridgepoint Capital, a private equity firm, in April 2010 and is now the leading specialist retailer of art and crafts products in the UK. It has three million members of its club scheme, which allows it to attract customers to its shops with workshops and demonstrations that it said had made its branches "social centres for craft". It uses the same social approach on its website, which Hobbycraft said it would develop to incorporate user-generated content such as photos and videos from its customers.
"We are very pleased with our financial and operational performance during the year," Dominic Jordan, chief executive, said. "Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in multi-channel expansion whilst continuing to improve our overall customer proposition and experience."