The listed furniture e-commerce giant has no one to take over and is on the verge of bankruptcy!

In this year's cross-border e-commerce market, news of the collapse of various big sellers and e-commerce platforms is common.

Recently, news came out that another furniture e-commerce platform went bankrupt!

British furniture e-commerce Made.com announces closure

British furniture e-commerce Made.com suddenly announced that it would close its website and stop accepting new orders.

It is understood that the main reason for the platform's closure was the breakdown of financing negotiations. After Made.com determined that it would not receive any financing proposals or acquisition offers, it had to make the decision to shut down the platform in order to preserve the value of its creditors .

Previously, Made.com had stated that if the company was unable to raise more funds or receive a firm offer before its cash reserves were exhausted, it would have to take "appropriate measures" to preserve value for creditors.

Made.com stated in its closure announcement that the company is facing long-term difficulties mainly for two reasons. First, the current economic situation has caused consumers to reduce spending on home products. On the other hand, it is affected by the supply chain and increased product costs.

It is reported that Made.com was founded in London , England in 2010 by Li Ning, Chloe Macintosh and Brent Hoberman , all Chinese whose ancestral home is Foshan. The platform mainly sells velvet sofas, armchairs, brass beds and rose gold lamps.

In June 2021, Made.com was officially listed in London, raising 100 million pounds and its market value reached 775.3 million pounds .

However, since the company went public, it has issued three profit warnings and expects losses this year to reach up to 70 million pounds.

In September this year, Made.com announced that it would cut about 35% of its employees by the end of October and integrate its supply chain in Europe and Vietnam, while closing its business in China and reducing warehouse capacity.

At the same time, in order to save costs, its customer service will be outsourced to a third party. As the market environment deteriorates, the company's management has to find a buyer or raise more cash.

As a result, Made.com faced closure despite multiple efforts.

Made.com loses £35.3m in first half of 2019

Made.com is a British fast-fashion furniture e-commerce website. It works directly with designers to publish their furniture drawings on the website. The designs with the highest votes will be directly ordered and produced in factories in China, and then the furniture will be sold. The company's main business model is to connect consumers, furniture designers and factories through a content-based e-commerce platform, and also encourage users to share creative home furnishings on social platforms.

In the first few years after Made.com was founded, it was in a stage of rapid development.

In 2017, Made.com's sales reached 100 million pounds.

In 2019, Made.com's sales reached £211.8 million, double the amount two years ago.

In 2020, Made.com's sales grew to £315 million.

In June 2021, Made.com was listed in London, UK, and the company's business volume began to plummet since then.

Made.com reported a pre-tax loss of £31.4 million in 2021, a further decline from the 14.6% loss reported in the same period last year. According to the company, this was the result of global supply chain challenges and inflation.

In the first half of this year, Made.com's sales were 178.2 million pounds, a 4% increase over the same period last year , but its pre-tax loss reached 35.3 million pounds, compared with only 10.1 million pounds in the same period last year.

Compared with the same period in 2021, the number of active users on the platform decreased by 5% and the total number of orders decreased by 26%. The proportion of marketing expenses increased by 3.2% to 17.5%.

When Made.com was first founded, it boasted that it would become the next IKEA, but now it is unable to withstand the changes in the environment and is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Due to the continued uncertainty of the online business, Made.com also issued a stock suspension announcement. After the announcement, the company's stock plummeted 90 percentage points directly to less than 1 penny. Currently, Made.com is valued at only 30 million pounds.

At this point, Made.com is likely to face bankruptcy.

Corporate bankruptcies sweep across Europe

In addition to Made.com , another home furnishing giant is also having a hard time.

Recently, Eve Sleep, a well-known European home furnishing e-commerce company , announced bankruptcy and liquidation due to continued losses and falling stock prices. Its related brands, websites and assets were acquired by another bedding retailer, Bensons for Beds.

It is understood that Eve Sleep has been established for nearly eight years and is headquartered in London. Eve Sleep mainly sells DTC furniture products. Its star product, boxed mattresses, has sold tens of thousands of units a year and has received 2.7 million monthly visitors. It has strong sales power despite its recent establishment, which quickly attracted the attention of investors.

Subsequently, the increase in capital allowed the company to develop rapidly. In 2015 and 2016, Eve Sleep raised a total of 10 million pounds, which caused its valuation to rise rapidly. When it went public in 2017, its valuation exceeded 100 million pounds.

Eve Sleep has performed very well in the past two years . In 2021, the brand's annual revenue reached 26.6 million pounds, which was about 220 million yuan at the time. In February this year, its stock price once soared by more than 54%. However, despite the outstanding performance and stock price , it is difficult to escape the dilemma of continued losses and market decline.

Due to the continued inflation, consumer purchasing power has declined and a wave of corporate bankruptcies has swept across Europe .

According to the latest survey conducted by the Federation of German Industries ( BDI) on 593 German companies, 58% of German companies said they are facing major challenges, 34% are currently worried about survival, and 25% are planning to relocate some of their businesses. It is worth noting that the BDI found in the survey that 10% of German companies have reduced or even interrupted their daily production.

In addition to Germany, companies in many countries including the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands are facing bankruptcy crises.

According to the latest data released by the UK National Statistics Office in October, the number of companies that went bankrupt in England and Wales in the second quarter of this year (April-June) has reached 5,629 , breaking the highest record since the third quarter of 2009 .

Sangalli, president of the Italian retail trade federation , said that from October this year to the first half of 2023, continued inflation may cause the closure of at least 120,000 small businesses in Italy, with direct losses of more than 370,000 jobs.

This year, the number of Dutch corporate bankruptcies has increased by 9% compared to 2021. The total number of bankruptcies is expected to soar by 77% by 2023, and 4,100 Dutch companies are expected to go bankrupt next year.

It is worth noting that the ongoing wave of strikes in Europe has also had a great impact on the development of enterprises. The strikes continue to spread to various transportation sectors . Large enterprises can give up part of their profits in the face of strikes, but small enterprises can hardly continue and will eventually have to go bankrupt.

The continued inflation has dealt a heavy blow to the European economy, and GDP growth has become increasingly slow. How to find a new way out in a complex market environment has become an important issue that many sellers and companies have to face.

Furniture e-commerce

Bankruptcy