A retail expert has detailed how furniture retailer Made.com went from wanting to be the "online IKEA" to a "car crash" as the company entered administration and axed hundreds of jobs.
The jobs have been lost despite Next buying its brand, websites and intellectual property for £3.4m.
The deal did not include staff while administrators from advisory firm PwC confirmed the move will result in 320 redundancies, while a further 79 employees who had resigned and were working their notice have also been forced to leave the business immediately.
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Dr Gordon Fletcher, retail expert from the University of Salford Business School, has looked at what went wrong and what might happen next.
He said: "The story of Made.com is brief. Commencing in 2010 its aspiration was to become the online IKEA. Finding particular favour with millennials and Gen-Z entering the world of work with newfound disposal incomes.
"Made.com represented a particular preference for a retro-aesthetic that worked for these consumers who did not want to invest in mid-century antiques and were working with the confined space of rented flats.
"The brand really took off during the pandemic as more households shifted to flexible and home working.
"Currently the explanation for Made.com's demise is the downturn after the pandemic. There is certainly evidence that many online brands are needing to urgently realign in the wake of the pandemic - and evidence that the wholesale move to online retail was only a temporary experience. However, with behind-the-scenes observations that the company was a 'car crash' points to a wider set of issues.
"Using a just-in-time production model and working with over 200 suppliers in the supply chain brings many challenges for even the largest organisations.
"Even last year, with increased demand the company was warning that Brexit was making its supply chain more fragile.
"One of the major responses at this time was to increase its warehousing footprint and as a result its operating costs. Then the cost-of-living crisis has emerged in the wake of the pandemic.
"Millennials and Gen-Z consumers, like so many others, are tightening their belts too. For those that still have disposal incomes they are thinking about new post-pandemic experiences and travelling rather than feathering their rented nests.
"Whether customers will receive refunds is still up in the air. Other assets will be sold off by the administrators, but this will not be a last-minute rescue by Frasers Group - breaking a pattern that has become an almost expected outcome with recent retail failures."
Administrators added that a "small number" of workers have been kept on by the company to ensure an orderly closure. Made had already halted new orders but had previously said it was seeking to fulfil all previous orders.
It said on Wednesday that close to 4,500 customer orders in the UK and Europe are set to be delivered.
However, it added that a large number of orders are still in their production stage in the Far East and cannot be completed and shipped to customers due to the administration.
It is a sharp downturn for the company, which launched on the London Stock Exchange less than two years ago with a £775m price tag and promises of accelerated growth and leading the online furniture market.
Made chief executive Nicola Thompson said: "I would like to sincerely apologise to everyone - customers, employees, supplier partners, shareholders and all other stakeholders - impacted as a result of the business going into administration.
"Over the past months we have fought tooth and nail to rapidly re-size the cost base, re-engineer the sourcing and stock model, and try every possible avenue to raise fresh financing and avoid this outcome."
Zelf Hussain, joint administrator and partner at PwC, said: "It is with real regret that redundancies will need to be made.
"We would like to thank all the employees for their hard work.
"We will continue to support those affected at this difficult time, including assisting the HR team's efforts to secure staff new roles."
The writing had been on the wall for several days after Made last month abandoned hopes of finding a buyer to save it and inject the cash it needed to stay afloat.
The troubled company filed a notice to appoint administrators last week after being hit by soaring costs and slowing customer demand.
The retailer has offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, China and Vietnam. The firm's shares had already been suspended.
Made chairwoman Susanne Given said: "Having run an extensive process to secure the future of the business, we are deeply disappointed that we have reached this point and how it will affect all our stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.
"We appreciate and deeply regret the frustration that MDL going into administration will have caused for everyone."
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