Just three years ago, the online-only business had revealed a loss of $44.4 million but its fortunes were beginning to turn by the end of last year when it reported a 50 per cent jump in revenue over a six-month period.
“There are a lot of people in all age brackets, income brackets and all demographics that are turning to online out of necessity so it’s our job to make sure they have a great experience.” But its results towards the end of 2019 meant Temple and Webster had the business model in place to capitalise on the e-commerce surge while its competitors were scrambling to pivot to a fully functioning online operation.
“E-commerce is a scale game, so you start to see operation leverage because the revenue grows faster than the cost base as opposed to other industries where you need to keep investing in showrooms or stores; you need physical costs to drive that revenue.