Whittard of Chelsea: Growing global brand with strong momentum, supported by a clear customer led strategy

Whittard of Chelsea (“Whittard” or the “Company”), the globally renowned British tea, coffee, and hot chocolate company, has released its 2024 financial results. Highlighting robust growth both domestically and internationally. Domestic growth was driven by strong UK like for like performance and growing international appeal. Whittard of Chelsea has continued to remain relevant to evolving customer trends and expectations. 

Financial Snapshot

The company reported the following highlights in the recently filed 2024 accounts: 

• Delivering the fourth consecutive year of growth, with net revenue of £49.8m, up 9.1% versus prior year.  Gross revenue (inc. VAT) surpassed £50m for the first time.
• Overseas revenues £7.8m up 26%, highlighting the appeal of the brand globally, with most notable growth in the US, Asia, and EMEA.
• UK sales of £42m up 6.5% year on year 
• Strong like for like retail sales growth of 6%, despite a tough retail environment
• Operating profit of £2.4m, a 12% year on year increase, with rising costs more than offset by sales and margin growth. 

Nathan Smith, CEO of Whittard of Chelsea, commented:

• “2024 marked our fourth consecutive year of growth, reflecting the growing appeal of our brand from consumers across the globe. There is no doubt that we are operating under a tough backdrop, but we remain focused on our priorities, ensuring we have continued growth momentum that can outpace continued rising costs. 
• A key success factor over the last few years has been our relentless focus on being a customer- led brand in everything we do. Building a better understanding of our loyal customers was supported by the launch of our new Whittard rewards loyalty programme – with our annual membership target achieved in just six months. The programme is designed to capture all direct-to-consumer transactions meaning that a customer can enjoy the benefits of the scheme both at home and abroad, regardless of channel shopped. As well as improved retention metrics, we also saw improved levels of customer acquisition with our active customer database growing 9% year on year. We are uniquely placed as a brand dedicated mainly to Tea, Coffee and Hot Chocolate, to offer a loyalty scheme and as a result we have insight into our customer behaviours that will fuel our continued growth. 
• In the UK our like for like revenue growth continued to outpace the sector (as reported by the BRC/KPMG sales monitor)  at +6% . It was driven by continued investment in our retail footprint, with the opening of our new brand concept store on Oxford Street, followed by further roll out in key locations including: Gatwick North, Oxford Queen Street, Nottingham Victoria Centre, and Sheffield Meadowhall
• Globally, we continue to focus on Asia, US, Middle East, and Europe. In 2024, we opened both our US office in New York, and a warehouse facility in Dallas. We also partnered with new wholesale accounts in the US, served our first airline in the Middle East, and grew sales into Europe via ecommerce.”

Global Brand

Whittard has continued to build its global presence and is active in over 40 countries. The brand’s products feature in premium retailers and department stores across Asia, Europe, US, and the Middle East. We’ve also established key US partnerships with Macys, Neiman Marcus, and Sams Club. All of which have helped support the continued growth in ecommerce sales. We also operate franchise stores in both Taiwan and South Korea.

Whittard Rewards

During 2024, Whittard launched a new loyalty program which has exceeded expectations in both the number of customers signing up and improved customer repeat rates. The Rewards program identified our loyal customers who would also to benefit from incentives such as early access, free gifts and ‘surprise & delight’ initiatives. 

Product Innovation

Further evidence of Whittard’s customer- led strategy lies in product innovation reflecting key trends and our extensive customer insight. This enables us to excite while remaining relevant to a broad customer base. The launch of a new Christmas range of products reinforced the role that Whittard plays at a key gifting occasion for consumers. Further product innovation, such as coconut hot chocolate, coconut oolong tea, dragon pomelo infusion, and Lychee and Rose have demonstrated Whittard’s ability to tap into consumer trends. 

UK High Street Success and New Store Concepts

Whittard remains a key brand on the UK high street, and the company operates over 40 stores nationwide, including its flagship location in Covent Garden and a newly launched concept store on Oxford Street. This new store design was successfully implemented in new stores in Oxford, Nottingham, and Gatwick North Terminal. The new design reflects Whittard’s 139-years of expertise, but with a contemporary twist, Central to the experience is a tea tasting station, inviting customers to sample across a wide range of products. There’s also an innovative loose tea wall feature, and digital screens to enhance the story telling of the brands history and products.

Looking Ahead

Whittard is well positioned for sustained growth across all regions and has ambitious plans to:

• Fuel international growth through targeted and extended distribution in Asia, US, and EMEA
• Expand customer database, through rewarding our loyal customers, and acquiring new ones.
• Continue to leverage expertise in taste and flavour trends to drive product innovation, ensuring Whittard continues to inspire the discovery of the exceptional.
• Continue to nurture and expand its successful UK retail footprint with more new store openings in 2025 and 2026.Nathan Smith concluded:
  “2024 reinforces our conviction that our business plan has continued momentum and is working well. We are excited about the future, and are committed to build on our strong UK presence, whilst expanding  to target markets globally.H1 2025 is following a similar pattern to 2024 with rising cost pressures, being offset by stronger trading results, as both new and returning visitors continue to explore the brand and our products.  The highlights so far this year include a strengthening of the Loyalty community, continued product innovation, new UK stores, launching with Avolta at all major UK airports, and continued growing demand in both China and the USA.  
• We are well set up for H2 and we remain optimistic that we can continue to drive global brand growth.”