Bureau Direct
Significant sales growth for a small online retailer that competes on product and service rather than price is a notable.
London, UK (PRWEB UK) 9 January 2014
Figures released today by Bureau Direct, the award-winning online stationery company, show that Christmas sales have exceeded expectations with record December online sales posted. Sales for the Christmas period, for the 4 weeks ending Friday 27 December 2013, were 22.6% up over 2012. These results confirm the positive trend that Bureau Direct have seen throughout 2013, with sales up for the calendar year up by over 14% on 2012.
Sales were particularly strong for notebooks, pens and ink which confirms the trend seen in recent years for a increased demand for stationery despite the increasing rise of digital devices and social media. These are impressive results for a small online retailer competing head-to-head with major retailers such as Amazon, Tesco and John Lewis. Despite the growth in online retailing year on year, it is fiercely competitive market and price comparison shopping drives a significant amount of purchases. It is a notable achievement for a small online retailer that competes on product and service rather than price to see such significant sales growth.
Dominic Irons, joint owner and head of marketing, sees the positive signs in these results: “We have put huge efforts into squeezing the most from our marketing budgets, which are limited for such a small company. Competing head-to-head with online giants such as Amazon and John Lewis is never easy at the best of times, and can prove even more difficult at Christmas when such large sums are put into advertising campaigns to drive sales. Having compared our sales with the recently announced Christmas sales from John Lewis we were delighted that we performed so well in comparison. Our sales were 20.5% up for the 5 week period to December 28, whilst John Lewis announced a 22.6% increase in online sales over the same period. Given the relative mismatch in available spend and PR we feel that we have more than achieved our aims for this important sales period. With the plans we have for 2014 and beyond we are quietly confident of very successful growth over the coming year as well.”