Moda Furnishings / 16 Resident UK

WE SEE FURNITURE LIKE FASHION, AND DESIGN PRODUCTS THAT ENHANCE THE OVERALL OUTDOOR LIVING EXPERIENCE

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SHOP

Manchester-based outdoor furniture specialist Moda Furnishings might be “digital-first”, but its new 7000ft2 glass-fronted flagship near Old Trafford proves it’s no slouch in the physical retail space. This month, founder and CEO Jonny Brierley gives Furniture News the lowdown on everything from futureproofing to firepits …

www.modafurnishings.co.uk

How did Moda begin, at what point did it go multichannel? We started in March 2015, launching a high-quality, modular, outdoor rattan furniture range that was designed inhouse and imported and sold direct to consumers online.

We always wanted to be digitalled business, using our ecommerce platform to place our products in front of the customers right from the outset. There was a high demand for our products from the word go, and from then it’s been up and up, bringing new, innovative ideas to the whole business – not just products.

Why did you take the private equity route in 2019, and how has it changed the business? The previous shareholders were looking to exit for lifestyle reasons, but we wanted to keep going and drive growth in the business. We worked with a corporate finance house who helped us attract private equity backing – not just to back the MBO, but also to provide investment for the future. Myself and my business partner Vallan McCarthy stayed on, and rolled all of our value across into the new structure, and I led Moda through the whole process.

The business has been transformed since then, and is going from strength to strength. Since the PE deal, we’ve brought to the boardroom a CFO who has transformed our management information, and a highly experienced chairman. The business has become more professional and corporate, using more sophisticated data to make better decisions.

What changes have taken place at Moda since March 2020? During the pandemic lockdown periods we had to close our showrooms, but,

Jonny Brierley Moda’s new flagship store in Manchester

fortunately, having our own dedicated warehouse space and our own in-house delivery fleet meant we could continue to trade online.

Since then, Moda’s growth has continued to be exceptional. Our warehouse capacity has risen from 110,000ft2 to over 240,000ft2. We’ve doubled our headcount and taken additional office space. We’ve also changed our mindset – we’re no longer a seasonal business, and this has allowed us to take more grounded, long-term views in all of our decisionmaking. We’ve also opened three new showrooms and have really exciting plans to open more, in strategic locations to support the digital-first strategy.

How does the business conducted in your showrooms stack up against that conducted online? Moda will always be an ecommercefirst business, supported by a few beautiful, well-placed showrooms. Moda customers are very happy to buy online, as they trust the exceptional quality of the product and the gold-standard delivery service, as evidenced by our track record of five-star reviews.

However, we also want our customers to feel that they can come in and touch and feel our product if they want to, in a totally new environment that’s different to any other garden furniture showroom retailer. We are currently working on some customer ‘single view’ technology which will allow us to interact with our customers better, and create a seamless online and showroom experience. This will also give us more insight into our customers’ behaviour. Give us a snapshot of your supply chain All of our products are designed and developed in-house at our headquarters in North-west England. We partner with a number of overseas factories, whom we communicate with directly, assisting them with everything from raw material orders, manufacturing standards and quality control, right up to container loading. This level of control really means that we can service consumers quickly, with the correct products at the right time, within our unique modular system.

… and your product design process We listen to everyone when we design new products, or redesign existing ones. We listen to customer feedback, driver feedback and customer service department feedback, to really understand demand and how we can design our existing products better.

This can be anything from making the product instructions clearer, to redesigning the way a product assembles. We see furniture like fashion – it’s important with new products not to just look at how furniture is changing, but to see the way customers change their outdoor space, and design products that would complement this to enhance the overall outdoor living experience.

How long do you think the surge in demand for outdoor furniture will last? I think the attitude of the UK public has transformed in recent years, and the extra time people have spent at home during the last 18 months has driven this change even more.

Customers are now recognising

that their outdoor space is no longer just a place to pop outside when the weather is nice. Now it is an extension of their living space, a beautiful outdoor entertaining area that adds value to their home that can be intimate and cosy, as well as grand and lavish for parties.

I believe that the growth we are seeing now will continue for many years, as customers become more and more aware of the fantastic lifestyle and wellbeing benefits that come from outdoor living, socialising and relaxing. We also see a lot of aspiration, of customers who haven’t been able to refresh their outdoor space yet due to trade and material shortages.

I also now see that the UK consumer isn’t just treating outdoor furniture as only summer furniture, as there are some quite remarkable heating and lighting solutions to create cosy autumn and spring environments. This adds value for customers, as they can use their outdoor furniture much more throughout the year with family and friends.

WE CAN SERVICE CONSUMERS QUICKLY, WITH

THE CORRECT PRODUCTS AT THE RIGHT TIME

Staffing is becoming a bigger challenge for furniture businesses. How have you gone about such rapid recruitment? We’ve been very busy recruiting since the MBO, having more than doubled our workforce in only two years. Our brand has grown so fast – many new recruits want to be part of the Moda story, so recruitment hasn’t really been much of a challenge for us.

We are quite selective, but there really is a wealth of talent out there, which is really creating an exciting future for us. Our staff are also very loyal – I want all of our team to feel that Moda is a great place to work and for everyone to enjoy their careers as we continue to grow.

INVESTMENT IS KEY TO STAYING FUTUREPROOF

What’s the biggest mistake your rivals are making at the moment? I wouldn’t want to criticise any competitors – everyone is doing their best in difficult times, especially with supply chain pressures as high as they are now. I focus more on what we feel we’re doing well at Moda.

We keep focused on what the customer wants, ensuring the highestquality products that will give enjoyment for many years. Having well-designed and well-made stock available is key, so we’ve invested considerably in our supply chain. We also believe that it is important to keep investing in our business and in our team, so we can keep pace with the exceptional demand we’re seeing for all of our products. Investment is key to staying futureproof.

What changing trends are you seeing in garden furniture? Our contemporary modular ranges have really taken off this year. Customers love the waterproof technology in the fabric, and have really taken to the modern colour palette. Our smokefree gas firepits continue to be very popular (we’ve even developed the UK’s first darkroom furniture display area to showcase these), and we are now seeing corner sofa dining surge ahead of traditional dining chair sets. What balance of branded/white label goods do you offer? All Moda furniture products are only available from us, and are all Moda branded. Providing the full design-todelivery service across our products is key to our success. Seeing the Moda brand gives the customer complete confidence in what they will get – an amazing product which is well designed and will last for years, the highest levels of delivery and customer service which our customers rightly expect, and full support on the rare occasions there is an aftersales issue to follow up.

What’s in the pipeline? Are there any plans to explore new product areas? Yes, we are already introducing complementary products to enhance the overall outdoor living experience. These include products such as water features, outdoor lighting and heating, and decorative screens (all Moda branded). We continue to develop new modular designs, and will be bringing some exciting new ranges to market in 2022.

We have a saying at Moda – with products, “the design is never done!”

GLOBAL CITIZEN

California-based Resident has gone from strength to strength since it entered the UK marketplace in 2018 with D2C bed brand, Nectar – yet sustained growth can only come through sustainable practices, believes Resident UK’s MD, Angela Crouch …

www.residenthome.com

WE’RE CURRENTLY SELLING ONE MATTRESS EVERY

TWO MINUTES

Angela Crouch

What is Resident, and what’s the scope of its UK activities? What advances has the business made since its UK launch? Since its UK launch in 2018, Resident has developed three D2C brands with sustainability at their core: Flagship mattress brand Nectar; luxury mattress brand DreamCloud; and the soon-tolaunch homeware brand Cloverlane.

At the start of 2021, Resident raised £97.5m in a Series B funding round led by Ion Crossover Partners and Nexus Capital Management, with participation from Baron Capital Group. The funds have been used to execute Resident’s growth plan, and in the UK in 2021 we’ve seen growth of +30% YoY.

And though the pandemic presented us with significant challenges, it saw demand soar as people took haven in their own homes. In fact, this year we’re currently selling one mattress every two minutes, and estimate that one in every 20 households owns a Nectar or DreamCloud product.

How did you come to be appointed Resident’s UK MD? What did you bring to the role? I have quite a diverse international background in business development, marketing, ecommerce and operations from my time working for Ancestry, Photobox and Zoopla. I think my experience of managing two start-ups at Photobox really helped me shape my understanding of data-driven decisionmaking, pivoting and listening to the customer.

At the mature public companies Ancestry and Zoopla, I helped drive new revenue opportunities and efficiencies across complex matrix organisations. A combination of being able to zoom into areas of the business at all levels of growth and ensuring the highperforming teams I build are with me every step of the way are key to my role as MD.

Where does your DreamCloud offering sit in relation to its competitors – both D2C and more traditional? We launched our DreamCloud offering in 2019 – hot on the heels of Nectar’s success – with an aim to disrupt the high-end marketplace.

It was a trailblazer in the space, being the first and only premium bedin-a-box mattress brand, featuring our industry-first 365-night trial, and completely climate neutral. And we’ve seen consumer demand for luxury products rocket during the pandemic – DreamCloud UK has seen YoY growth at +257%.

How important is sustainability to Resident UK, and why? Sustainability is at the core of everything we do at Resident, and a cause I feel really passionate about, having a background in life sciences.

And we’ve made significant steps since our launch in 2017. Working with Climate Partner, we’ve reduced manufacturing waste and offset CO2 equivalent to 17,941,312kg (Nectar Sleep) and 1,836,556kg (Dreamcloud), and reduced Nectar’s carbon footprint by -8%. In response to our efforts, both of our D2C mattresses have been awarded the coveted Good Housekeeping Institute Getting Greener Award – which is something we’re really proud of.

How much are greener practices being driven by the consumer, as opposed to suppliers? Our business model responds to customer need, and sustainability has become an increasingly important factor driving their purchase choice. In fact, 20% of our customers who complete our post-purchase survey list ‘being climate neutral’ as one of their reasons for choosing a Nectar or DreamCloud mattress.

Can you offer some examples of how you’re helping to drive change in our industry? In my 20s and 30s, I was the only female in the room, and since then I’ve been driven to push for better representation for women at work – particularly in a ‘male-dominated’ business space. One thing that really helped me was having a sponsor and mentor during my time at Ancestry, and this is a scheme I’ve brought forward to my role at Resident, to guide women in business. I also think we lead by example when it comes to recycling our mattresses. Through our partnership with British Heart Foundation, all returned mattresses are given a new lease of life via donation. As such, the mattresses get a second home, avoid needless disposal, and help raise funds to fight against heart disease. I think this showcases the importance of authenticity when it comes to brand partnerships in the industry.

Does your involvement extend to ethical manufacture and community support? We are always striving to improve our manufacturing process, and our homeware arm Cloverlane pays testament to this. All of our products are GOTS and OEKO-TEX certified, which represents that the products are made to the highest standard when it comes to ecological and socially responsible practices. Can you point to any other businesses in our sector whose eco-conscious approaches you admire? There are a lot of great challengers and disruptors coming into the space, which is pretty exciting – Made.com, Parachute and Coyuchi come to mind. I partocularly admire Coyuchi’s 2nd Home and circular initiatives.

As a consumer it really speaks to me, but from a business point of view the economics of these programmes can be very challenging – it’s not easy to do.

What’s the biggest challenge you face when striving to stay ‘green’ yet achieve growth? There is definitely a higher tangible cost associated with staying ‘green’, from paying more to source FSC-certified materials to best practice when it comes to recycling. From a commercial sense, I think it’s balancing short- and long-term goals – keeping true to the long-term vision by doing what you can commercially to get closer to that goal, whilst in the short-term staying true to your sustainability targets