Gear4music celebrates bumper Christmas

The York-based firm said festive demand was driven by popular high ticket items such as the Yamaha hybrid piano for £3,959, the Gibson 1959 Les Paul guitar – “the Holy Grail of rock guitars” for £5,299 and The Messiah Stradivarius violin replica for £2,285.

Other best sellers included a French Horn for £3,179 and a large "Make Noise" synth for £4,599.

The largest UK-based online retailer of musical instruments and music equipment said overall sales jumped 42 per cent to £34.6m over the four month period.

On a two-year basis, sales growth was 120 per cent, ahead of the 114 per cent for the same period last year.

Gear4music’s chief executive Andrew Wass said: “We are very pleased with our trading performance over the last four months, with sales growth of 42 per cent building on the 44 per cent achieved in the first half, and trading for the year to date is in line with the board’s expectations.

"This has been achieved as we continue to invest in our customer proposition, marketing, people and websites, all with a view to enhancing our long-term growth prospects."

Sales growth in the group's more established UK market remained strong at 25 per cent alongside very strong growth in its international markets, which are being driven by improved delivery as it scales up its European hubs.

"Our Swedish distribution centre now fulfils over 50 per cent of all our Scandinavian orders and our German Distribution centre, which became operational just 10 months ago, dispatched over 800 orders on its busiest day in December," said Mr Wass.

"We are confident that the group will continue to grow rapidly over the medium and longer term, as we continue our mission to become the best musical instrument and equipment retailer in Europe.”

Both own-brand and branded revenues grew by 42 per cent during the period and active customer numbers rose 38 per cent to 450,000.

Website conversion improved to 3.3 per cent over the four period, up from 3.0 per cent last year.

Over the past few months the group has launched a US website and successfully relocated its head office with no disruption to the business.

Mr Wass said that the launch of the US website represents an important stepping stone in the group’s plans for growth outside Europe.

The firm sells own-brand musical instruments and music equipment alongside premium third-party brands such as Fender, Yamaha and Gibson, to customers ranging from beginners to musical enthusiasts and professionals, in the UK, Europe and, more recently, the rest of the world.

It has distribution centres in York, Sweden and Germany.