Draft:Amara

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Symbol opinion vote.svg Comment: Does not seem to meet WP:CORPDEPTH Legacypac (talk) 20:55, 11 June 2018 (UTC)


Industry E-commerce                                                                                                                                          
Founded 2005
Head Quarters Essex, UK
Products home accessories, furniture, tableware, bed linen, lighting, household appliances, home fragrance and garden ware
key People Andrew Hood (CEO), Sam Hood (Creative Director), Andrew Curran (Non-Exec Director), Robin Terrell (Non-Exec Director)
Number of employees 90
Website www.amara.com

Amara is a global ecommerce store selling a range of luxury home furnishings.[1], accessories, tableware, bed linen, lighting, home fragrance and garden-ware based in the United Kingdom[2]. The company is known for selling top designer homeware brands such as Ralph Lauren Home, Roberto Cavalli, Missoni Home[3] and Fornasetti[4].

HISTORY

2005-2009

Amara was established in 2005 by husband and wife team Andrew and Sam Hood as a small high street store located in Chelmsford, Essex[5]. In 2006 Amara relocated to office space located in Rayne, Braintree[6] and launched the original website,  eventually closing the store in 2008 to focus solely on the online sector[7].

2010-2014

In 2010 My-Wardrobe co-founder Andrew Curran joined the management and was appointed chairman of Amara[8] as the company reached 10 employees. In 2013 the workforce expanded to 25 and the company decided to outsource the services of a third-party logistics company, and moved the entire Amara warehouse to Delamode[9], located in Braintree. This facilitated exporting success when Amara launched its international website www.amara.com, allowing the company to go global, resulting in international sales[10] growing by an average of 129% over two years to £2m in 2014[11].

2014-Present

This international growth increased further in 2015 when they acquired rival site Gift Library domain[12] and the company now have dedicated websites in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UAE and Ireland, along with local-language French and German websites[13].  International sales[14] now contribute to 50% of income[15] with the company achieving annual sales of £15m[16]. In 2015, Stefan Cassar was appointed Chairman of the board[17] and later in 2016 Tesco’s former Chief Customer Officer Robin Terrell[18] also joined the board as Non-Executive Director in November 2016[19]. Most recently, former Director of Customer Insight at House of Fraser, Madeleine Melson[20] was appointed the company’s first Chief Customer Officer[21].

PRODUCT RANGES

Missoni Home, 2015 – Amara is the largest stockist of Missoni homeware and to celebrate their tenth anniversary launched an exclusive range of products[22]. The Missoni Home for Amara collection[23] includes a variety of cushions and in fabrics from the Missoni Home selected especially for Amara[24]

Mulberry Home, 2016 - March 2016 saw the launch of the Mulberry Home Collection[25], also exclusive to Amara. The 27-piece collection includes cushions, draught excluders and door stops[26].

A by Amara, 2016 – Since September 2016, Amara has released bi-annual own label collections under the name A by Amara[27]. The collections include Amara’s own bed linen, soft furnishings, tableware and accessories[28]

COMMUNITY

Blog Awards -  In 2014 Amara hosted the first Amara Interior Blog Awards each year since to work closely with the interior blogging community.[29] Held at London venues such as Rosewood, London and Ham Yard Hotel, the awards celebrate the best of the international interior blogging world with an expert judging panel of interior specialists deciding the winners[30]. Its success has continued to grow[31] and is now in its 4th year.[32] The number of participating blogs increased from 290 in 2014 to 800 in 2017 and gold sponsors now include names like Ugg and Roberto Cavalli.

Student Interior Designer of the Year - In 2017 Amara ran its first Student Interior Designer of the year competition. Interior design students across the country from the UK’s leading universities were given a brief to design a luxury scandi-inspired London apartment to be in with the chance of winning a £3,000 interior design scholarship and a 2-week internship at Amara head office[33]. Students were shortlisted and then creative director Sam Hood chose a winner and two runners up[34].[35]

RECOGNITION

  • Shortlisted for the European Call Centre & Customer Service Awards as a finalist in the ‘Best online customer services’ and ‘Best retail customer services’ categories, 2013[36]
  • Placed 11th in The Sunday Times BT Business SME Export Track 100, 2015[37][38][39][40]
  • Placed 30th in The Sunday Times BT Business SME Export Track 100, 2016[41]
  • Won the Birketts Best Overall Large Employer award produced by eras in collaboration with Pure, 2016[42]
  • Placed 45th in The Sunday Times Best 100 Small Companies to work for, 2017[43]
  • Placed 45th in The Sunday Times Best 100 Small Companies to work for, 2018[44]
  • Named as one of Feefo’s Gold Trusted Merchants three years consecutively, 2015, 2016, 2017[45]
  • (Associate) Industry Partner, British Institute of Interior Design[46]
  • The Luxpad, shortlisted for Lifestyle category in UK Blog Awards 2018[47]
  • ^ "Amara Living Limited: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ ltd, company check. "AMARA INTERIORS LIMITED. Free business summary taken from official companies house information. Free alerts. Registered as 07918927". Company Check. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "ONLINE RETAILERS - MissoniHome.com". MissoniHome.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Fornasetti | Official Retailers". www.fornasetti.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "AMARA INTERIORS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "https://www.topdrawer.co.uk/academy/amara-from-a-chicken-shed-in-essex-to-global-online-retailer#/". www.topdrawer.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-11. External link in |title= (help)
  • ^ "Amara Creates an Award-Winning Customer Experience to Bring Luxury Style to Homes". Brand United. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Luxury Home Accessories E-tailer Amara teams up with Andrew Curran". PRWeb. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Delamode secures new ecommerce fulfilment customer | Delamode Group". www.delamode-new.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Davis, Hazel (2017). "The simple technology to help you go global". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "DIT Exporting Success Story: Amara (v2)". Issuu. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Luxury home and interiors firm Amara snaps up Gift Library". This is Money. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Exporting is GREAT - Amara - BT Business". business.bt.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "International Sales" (PDF).
  • ^ "Amara is sitting pretty as home etailer narrows losses". Retail Week. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Case Study | Retain.Me". www.retain.me. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Bulletin, The Retail. "Amara appoints new chairman to lead next stage of growth | The Retail Bulletin". The Retail Bulletin. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Ex-Tesco marketer Robin Terrell on being non-exec director". www.marketingweek.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Jahshan, Elias (2017-03-01). "Amara hires first chief customer officer - Retail Gazette". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Jahshan, Elias (2017-03-01). "Amara hires first chief customer officer - Retail Gazette". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara appoints Maddie Melson as first ever CCO". Retail Week. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Ltd, Outplay Media. "Amara announces: Missoni Home 2008 collection now in". PRLog. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Missoni Home's exclusive collection for leading boutique Amara - The Interiors Addict". The Interiors Addict. 2015-06-15. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara launches Exclusive selection of Missoni Home Accessories - FashionWindows". FashionWindows. 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara Launch Exclusive Mulberry Home Collection for Spring 2016! | The Source". The Source. 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Mulberry Home Collection - Exclusive to Amara | UWM". Ultimate Wedding Digital. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "amara launches covetable new home collection". Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara Launches Own Luxury Homeware Label | Exquisite Concierge". Exquisite Concierge. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "DIARY daily: Amara launches first Interior Blog Awards". DIARY daily. 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Howell, Madeleine (2017-10-30). "The Amara Interior Blog Awards 2017: which DIY interiors blog took home the top honour?". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "The Amara Interior Blog Awards 2015 - NDA Blog". NDA Blog. 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ Vowden, Charlotte (2017-10-29). "Amara Interior Blog Awards 2017: the winners". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara Competition open to Students • Creative Space CCI". Creative Space CCI. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Solent students shortlisted for Amara Student Interior Designer of the Year". www.solent.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Interior design decoration students win awards". www.solent.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara announced as European Call Centre & Customer Service Awards 2013 finalist". PRWeb. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ TWK. "League table - Fast Track". Fast Track. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Business booms for Rayne company Amara as Sunday Times name them 11th top exporter". Braintree and Witham Times. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Export Track" (PDF).
  • ^ Ltd, Insider Media. "South East & East companies named in first SME Export Track 100". Insider Media Ltd. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ TWK. "League table - Fast Track". Fast Track. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Essex-based Amara and Ipswich's Pound Gates are crowned the region's Best Overall Employers". www.prs.uk.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For 2017". Best Companies. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies". Global Senior Executive Jobs | The Times & The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Amara Reviews | https://www.amara.com reviews | Feefo". www.feefo.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11. External link in |title= (help)
  • ^ Living, Amara. "Amara Living - Essex, UK". www.houzz.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  • ^ "Shortlisted bloggers business".