Boden has posted sales of £304.5m for the year to December 2023 with a loss of £9.4m. Despite this, the business says that having reshuffled its leadership team and changed product and market strategy, the measures saw performance stabilise in H2/23. Its much-publicised intention to recommence catalogue circulation to its customers has contributed to a 19 per cent increase in full-price womenswear sales, which has delivered a positive start for this current financial year.
The business is now in much better overall shape, with Johnnie Boden saying, “I made a series of serious mistakes and felt like a fool.”
As previously reported by us, Boden had dropped its use of print catalogues as a cost-saving measure without, perhaps, realising the positive impact and contribution of receiving a personally addressed and mailed catalogue generated from its customers.
Johnnie continued: “The brilliant team at Boden couldn’t have responded better, bringing Boden back to its very best. Long lead times in our industry always make the process of changing ranges annoyingly slow, which is reflected in last year’s accounts.
“But we’ve truly turned the supertanker now and are back on course. We are seeing some very encouraging improvements in sales and profitability in 2024. I would like to thank the team at Boden and our customers, old and new, for their fantastic loyalty and support.”
Boden is one of the businesses behind the formation of the trade association The Catalogue Exchange, now known as the Direct Commerce Association. Johnnie Boden and other senior people from his company have addressed and participated in a number of DCA events.
Share