Oak Furniture Land, the UK’s fastest-growing furniture company, is launching a major new sofa brand with 57 showrooms across its retail network. SofaStore is the latest development from the clicks-to-bricks retail success story that has seen sales grow from £35m in 2010 to £194m this year. The new brand will sit alongside Oak Furniture Land.
Today’s announcement marks the first time in the UK that a sofa retailer has launched with a national network of showrooms. Led by a national TV advertising campaign that broke last night, the 57 stores will open to the public on Boxing Day on prime retail parks across the UK, totalling one million sqft of retail space. The roll-out includes four dedicated stores in Rotherham, Croydon, Glasgow and Farnham, and a website making innovative use of colour swatches across the entire product range.
For the last two years, Oak Furniture Land has trialled a number of sofas in its Oak Furniture Land stores. The business is now ready for a nationwide roll-out out of its new sofa brand, which will carry up to 90 ranges and 4000 variations of its sofas, including between five and 12 colours for each product.
Following consumer feedback, the business is choosing to stock up certain lines to be able to deliver to SofaStore customers within 14 days, compared to a typical wait of up to three months to receive a new sofa. Pricing is more transparent, including as standard free delivery and items like scatter cushions.
Founder and MD of Oak Furniture Land, Jason Bannister, comments: “Our approach at Oak Furniture Land has been very successful, selling quality products at a great price, taking a multichannel approach, allowing customers to get their orders quickly and with free delivery. Now we are applying this to sofas, and I’m excited about the SofaStore launch and our growth plans.”
Oak Furniture Land has enjoyed phenomenal growth since it started out on eBay in 2006. Year-on-year it has grown by over 40% and now employs 1000 people across the UK. In the last 12 months, the business has increased its store footprint through an aggressive programme of store openings, averaging one a month.
Last week, the business was recognised by the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 for the fifith time in six years, and the highest ranking furniture company for the last four.
