End clothing writes off £12 million stock after warehouse error
End Clothing, the luxury streetwear retailer, has been forced to write off £12 million worth of stock after a warehouse logistical error stopped it from shipping orders.
The company told The Times that a new automated fulfilment system - introduced last year – had caused logistical errors, which had “adverse effects on both our operations and customers’ ordering experience”.
According to newly filed accounts, it resulted in additional costs to support order fulfilment and a one-off provision against stock that could not be sold. Pre-tax profits were down by 76% to £9m in the 52 weeks to the end of March. Since, it was able to recoup and achieve double-digit revenue growth in the fourth quarter, raising yearly revenue up by 1.4% to £221 million.
The luxury retailer was founded in 2005 by Christiaan Ashworth and John Parker after they noticed a gap in the market for luxury yet trendy menswear.
The company said it was "confident that the inventory management processes and system issues” were “now in good order".
A spokeswoman told the Times: "Despite challenging consumer retail conditions, End is performing well and continues to scale its operations to serve our global customer base. We remain focused on expanding our capabilities as we continue our transition into a modern, technology-led and scalable business."
