Dive Brief:
- Despite slowing demand in the home goods space, DTC furniture brand Article announced its 2021 revenue increased 45% year over year. The brand says it has been profitable since 2015.
- The brand said the growth follows a number of initiatives last year, including opening fulfillment centers in Houston, Vancouver and Chicago, according to a company announcement.
- Article in 2021 also expanded its in-house delivery network to Boston; San Francisco; Austin, Texas; Dallas; Denver; Portland; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston and Chicago.
Dive Insight:
After hitting a number of milestones, including delivering its one millionth order, Article grew its top-line growth by double digits last year.
To help drive success in 2021, the DTC furniture brand has worked to expand its last-mile delivery network, Article Delivery Team. The brand said more than half of all Article orders are fulfilled by its ADT team, which was initially introduced in New York City and Los Angeles in 2019.
Article has also added new fulfillment centers this past year as well as grown its staff to over 1,300 employees globally, including doubling its workforce in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in order to build closer manufacturing relationships, the company said.
The brand is also working to fill out its leadership team with the appointment of two executives. Mohammad Nejad-Sattary was named Article's first senior vice president of technology. Nejad-Sattary, who has more than two decades of tech leadership experience, will be responsible for managing the brand's technology department. Matthew Ross was appointed vice president of logistics and comes to the company with experience from Nike and Living Spaces. Ross will oversee Article's logistics network in the U.S. and Canada.
"Investments in our fulfillment network, growth of our Vietnam office, and executive hires are among many recent company milestones that support our pursuit to build the easiest way to create a beautiful space," Aamir Baig, co-founder and CEO of Article, said in a statement.
But despite the brand growing its revenue in 2021 and expanding its fulfillment capabilities, Baig expects challenges in the year ahead.
"We anticipate the year ahead will be challenging for a number of reasons. Tailwinds created by the pandemic are subsiding and global supply chain disruptions are likely to continue for the immediate term," Baig said.
