British online fashion brand Sosandar cuts marketing spending to tackle coronavirus’ impact

New York – Sosandar, a British online fashion retailer, said in a trading update today that it experienced strong trading through January and February and into March in its fourth-quarter period, but that it will cut back in marketing spending to tackle the impact of coronavirus on its business.

Sosandar posted a whopping 203 percent year-over-year revenue increase in the quarter to date. However, the recent increasing macro-economic uncertainty associated with the virus outbreak is creating a significantly more challenging and volatile trading environment, it said.

As a result, sales over the past week have been substantially weaker than expected with margins also being impacted by increased customer incentives used, advanced the company Wednesday. For the year ended March 31, 2020, the company expects its revenue to be between 9 million and 9.3 million pounds and net loss for the year to be between 6.5 million and 6.8 million pounds.

Sosandar said that, despite the unprecedented current situation, the group’s prior performance this year and continued customer engagement statistics showed there is a clear demand for its unique offering in the market.

However, it is currently impossible to predict the full impact on the retail sector, and the company’s business, from coronavirus. “The company will, therefore, substantially reduce its planned marketing spend in order to focus on repeat orders from the group’s existing customer base rather than new customer acquisition in the short to medium term.

“This, alongside other cost-saving measures available to the company, will help preserve cash for when market conditions improve.” The company also reminded that it has a robust balance sheet and expects to end the year with cash in excess of 5 million pounds. “Having a flexible supply base, Sosandar is able to resource raw materials and production from other geographies when necessary to ensure minimal disruption to the supply chain.”