The new CEO of one of the world’s largest multi-channel home selling retailers has hailed a revival in the company’s fortunes just one trading year after it made a loss of £32m [Jan-Dec 18]. Jamie Martin, who took over at Ideal Shopping Direct in December, has revealed expected results for January to December 2019 will show a fast recovery to a £5m profit and 6.5% rise in average gross margins.

Mr Martin has played a central role in the return to profitability over the past nine months, along with new COO Martin Purcell, who joined at the same time. Following nine months of hard work to turn the business around, the expected 12-month results are now looking extremely healthy with total pre-tax turnover forecast to be £170m.

Peterborough-based ISD – whose two main channels are Ideal World and Create and Craft – sells into 31m homes in the UK via shopping channels on Sky, Freeview, Virgin and late-night ITV plus 35m homes in America and on its own websites. Between them the two channels have more than one million customers.

New management have been a new broom

Since taking over at the helm, Jamie and Martin have overseen a number of key changes and developments including a technology investment of £4m, the recruitment of new suppliers for its two main channels, the streamlining of its operations, a new partnership with ITV, growth of its American distribution channels and an overhaul of its main Ideal World brand. This has all happened alongside a transition to broadcasting in High Definition quality.

The new management has also worked hard to increase the quality of its flagship Ideal World channel by changing the on-screen product information overlays and rebranding set designs, VTs and social media. The company has also benefited from strong growth in its sales in America, which have risen by 40%.

CEO Jamie Martin says: “This is the biggest turnaround in live home shopping history. It has been a year of significant change, experimentation and learning while laying the groundwork for the future. Average order value and order frequency is up on last year and all other metrics have begun to plateau bucking the previous aggressive downward trend before I joined the business.

“It’s a simple story of sales up and costs down. We made tough choices to reduce our workforce by 110 people and negotiated new and better deals with suppliers. The business has also streamlined various aspects such as changing the way we source in China, cancelling marketing programmes that were not working and spending more money on our digital marketing, all of which have had a material impact on our profitability for the better.”