Online furniture retailer Made.com, a lockdown ‘winner’, has inked a deal to more than double the size of its UK warehouse space.
The London-headquartered firm, which counts entrepreneur Brent Hoberman among its backers, has seen high customer demand during the pandemic, with a 600% rise in compact desk sales as people adapted to working from home.
Made occupies 225,000 square feet where some 750,000 items go through annually at the London Gateway Logistics Park in Essex.
The company, which was founded in 2010, said it has exercised an expansion option in its lease agreement with DP World which will see its UK warehousing capacity more than double to over 570,000 square feet.
The new 350,000 square feet distribution centre will be delivered in two phases, with the first phase completed this summer, and the second completed in April 2022.
Chief operating officer Nicola Thompson said the move is part of “ continued investment into the UK market... supporting our ambitious growth plans for the future and helping us to significantly improve the lead times we offer to customers”.
Thompson added: “We are thrilled to expand our warehousing operations at London Gateway as we respond to continued growth in customer demand for our exclusive designs.”
The latest expansion plan is expected to create up to 100 new jobs.
Sky News reported in February that the company was exploring plans for a stock market flotation that would value it at well over £500 million. Made declined to comment.
Shareholders in the business include Level Equity, Partech Ventures and individual investors such as Hoberman.
