Ideal Shopping Direct (ISD) which owns and operates the Create and Craft and Ideal World TV shopping channel has achieved a significant turnaround in the past 12 months to generate a profit of £6.5 million, 30 per cent higher than forecast.
Having posted losses of £32 million in the previous year, underlying profit before taxation improved by £10.6 million and gross profit was 1 per cent higher year-on-year. The business had grown its customer base for Create and Craft by 20,000.
The recently appointed management team, CEO Jamie Martin and COO Martin Purcell attributed the turnaround to increased TV audiences, sales and resilience in an increasingly challenging retail environment brought on by Brexit and lockdown. Despite the UK retail downturn, ISD was already on its way with a digital transformation; diversifying from its roots of selling items through traditional scheduled TV channels to successfully shifting the channel’s product offering online.
Jamie Martin, CEO explained: “Covid-19 forced businesses of all sizes to shift gears. Luckily we were already well on our way with a digitally-centric approach ahead of the Covid-19 crisis hitting and the last 12 months has been about us reaping the benefits of this strategy. By laying the foundations to thrive in an increasingly on-demand, online world, our business has not only successfully navigated retail’s choppy waters but we have been able to invest in new facilities, bring on bigger brands and negotiate pivotal partnerships.”
A further contributor has been its successful negotiation with ITV. Last summer ISD teamed up with the UK’s largest TV channel to have its own channels take over ITV’s network after midnight daily, helping to build brand awareness and drive both new suppliers and customers.
Plans in the pipeline include an online ‘marketplace’ where third-party sellers can offer a wide range of goods online, from fashion to technology.
“We’re innovating but we’re also reacting to what’s out there,” said Martin. “Centuries ago people set up the first markets next to churches. The churches had huge steeples so people were drawn to them and traders went and sold, person to person from wooden stalls. The medium has changed but in real essence, this is still our model – people selling value to people in the environment the audience has chosen.”
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