Oak Furniture Land CEO: ‘We should be able to take better market share’

Chief executive Alex Fisher told Retail Week the furniture business had been “on a journey” to change the perception of the brand among consumers, and its focus was now on being more dominant in new categories and taking better share within the market.

Oak Furnitureland posted a 9% rise in like-for-like bookings in the 16 weeks leading up to Christmas, which Fisher described as a “big step change” from where the retailer had been trading in recent years, and reported that sales had “continued positively” over the peak trading period during late December and January. 

Fisher told Retail Week “If you look at our business historically, certainly if you go back to when I joined in 2018, we were a classic cabinetry retailer.

“If you were to ask consumers what they thought about us they would have said, ‘it’s oak, it’s big, it’s bulky and it’s orange’. We’ve been on a real journey to try and transform that perception. Now if you take a cabinet, we’ve got a number of different styles and looks for different customer types, and actually underneath that umbrella we’re also starting to broaden into other categories.

“We see upholstery, dining and bedroom as major categories where we should be able to dominate and take a better share, and that’s very much been our focus.”

In its most recently published accounts for the year to June 30, 2024, Oak Furnitureland reduced its operating loss by 19% to £12.4m compared to £15.4m in 2024, which it said was driven by launching into new categories and “enhancing its online and showroom estate”. Due to Red Sea disruption and reduced volumes caused by soft market conditions, revenue declined 17% to £236m year on year.