Spreadshirt, the European competitor of Cafepress, today confirmed that both revenue (10.4%) and orders (12.7%) grew globally in 2013. The e-commerce platform, which enables brands and consumers to create, sell and buy ideas on merchandising, has made a total revenue of €71.87 million.
The company’s success can be attributed to platform developments, such as its ‘touch-optimised’ t-shirt designer, along with other features that were part of a €2 million platform investment. In addition, Spreadshirt has benefitted from strategic use of discounting and further marketing measures such as; optimisation of the website and its channels, and new messaging following the rebranding in early 2013.
Spreadshirt was founded in 2002 by the German web entrepreneur Lukasz Gadowski. Spreadshirt’s plans for 2014 include further internationalisation to Australia, Canada and Switzerland and expanding its shipping services to additional countries. Around €3 million will be invested into the platform, to continue to improve the experience from touch-screen devices and to make it easier and quicker for brands and consumers to get their ideas on to merchandising. Spreadshirt will also be focusing on its multichannel approach, which was highly successful in 2013.
“We truly had a year of innovation at Spreadshirt last year and we plan to continue this in 2014″, says Philip Rooke, CEO. He continued: “We introduced our own t-shirt collection and saw the successful introduction of the touch-optimised t-shirt designer. As a result, 15% of our orders now start on a touch-screen device. Although we have not seen huge growth in the UK, we have big plans for the UK market next year, which is highly competitive due to the maturity of consumers and brands. We’re planning a TV advertising campaign in the summer, recruiting more people and positioning for the longterm”.
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