SOLD
Hilco Streambank is seeking offers to acquire the intellectual property assets behind luxury online home and lifestyle platform, Padlifestyle.com, connecting brands and designers directly to consumers.
Chad Griffin and Stuart Robb, both of FRP Advisory Trading Limited, as Joint Provisional Liquidators of Pad Lifestyle Limited (in Liquidation) (“Pad Lifestyle” or the “Company”), have appointed Hilco Streambank to actively seek interested parties with regards to the sale of the Company’s intellectual property assets.
Launched in 2015, Pad Lifestyle is a luxury online lifestyle store and destination for global design, borne of a retail and design studio based in Edinburgh. Housing curated collections of over 200 of the world’s most luxurious international brands and independent designers, Padlifestyle.com is an edit of eclectic, colourful and bold lifestyle products curated for customers with a passion for design on one easy to use and accessible platform.
Featuring iconic international brands such as Tom Dixon, Kelly Hoppen, Design House Stockholm and Jonathan Adler, as well as independent labels and creative start-ups, Pad Lifestyle’s platform allowed customers to uncover the finest new designs without the time-consuming research, showcasing a variety of designs under one umbrella. Pad Lifestyle provided a unique multi-channel retail platform for young and aspiring designers to showcase their work alongside its curation of international iconic brands.
Pad Lifestyle’s multi-brand collection included beautifully unique furniture, lighting, fashion, art, homewares and stunning design objects from top brands and independent designers. Pad Lifestyle showcased homeware brands such as quirky Dutch design label Pols Potten and hip Berlin brand The Knots, offering cutting edge, contemporary wool rugs using original, vintage rugs from the Middle East. For the fashion-conscious, the collection featured intricate and organic jewellery from eco-conscious Scottish designer Sarah Brown, vintage-style Harris Tweed capes by Cocoon Luxury and modern designs from Canadian Vegan unisex handbag label Matt & Nat.
The Company attracted both B2C and trade clients, with a diverse and international client base. Turnover was approximately £1m.
As well as trading through the Company’s padlifestyle.com e-commerce website, the Company also historically showcased collections in several premium bricks and mortar stores in the UK including its own former physical retail outlet in Edinburgh, providing its customers with a multi-channel shopping experience. With a strategy for expansion, the Pad Lifestyle brand launched on the high street and online in collaboration and partnership with luxury department store Harvey Nichols with whom it established an excellent and unique relationship, being the first retailer to bring homeware to Harvey Nichols. Pad Lifestyle formerly had a presence in the Edinburgh, London and Leeds Harvey Nichols stores as well integrating Padlifestyle.com with the Harvey Nichols website. The Company also sold through high-profile shopping platforms Trouva and Atterley.
This acquisition opportunity offers the buyer the unique opportunity to capitalise on both the acceleration of demand for online retail and growth in the homeware and lifestyle market. Revenue from the UK Online Home Furnishings market is anticipated to increase at a compound annual rate of 9.5% over the five-year period to 2023-2024, to reach £3.1 billion. [1] Last year was a gamechanger for the homewares sector, and this is a pivotal time for the industry. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the industry cannot delay digital transformation. Further, during the lockdown, consumers connected with their homes in ways their pre-Covid lives had never allowed. While physical showrooms have traditionally unpinned furniture and homewares retailers, the pandemic proved the need for significant investment in digital channels and has accelerated growth in e-commerce. Statista reports that the global Furniture & Homeware B2C e-commerce market has a predicted growth rate of 11.1% (to $210.9 billion) by 2023 [2] and in the Furniture & Homeware segment 13% of total market revenue will be generated through online sales by 2023. [3] This acquisition opportunity offers a savvy buyer the scope to acquire an established brand and digital assets with a strong online presence and excellent potential and positioning to exploit the clear trends set to dominate the market.
Pad Lifestyle Brand
The Pad Lifestyle brand is well-known and highly regarded in the UK, particularly in Scotland, and sparks international attention from consumers across Europe and beyond.
The brand has been featured prominently by various media outlets, garnering attention from The Telegraph, Daily Mail Online, Homes & Interiors Scotland and The Scotsman. The brand has also featured in a number of high-profile print publications, including InStyle Living and Stella Magazine.
In addition to the press, Pad Lifestyle is coveted by various social media influencers, interiors bloggers and customers. Pad Lifestyle has been featured on a number of trendy blogs, including Little Black Book Edinburgh, Pink House and Heart Home, further bolstering the brand.
Dickins named Pad Lifestyle one of Edinburgh’s Best Independent Homeware and Interior Stores in 2019 and it was also nominated for online marketplace Trouva’s Boutique of the Year 2017 and Best Independent Retailer at the I-on Magazine Breakthrough Awards.
As a Lifestyle Collective, Pad Lifestyle’s approach was to find unique, bold and beautifully designed products from all over the world to delight and inspire its customers. The brand is described as a destination for luxury fashion and lifestyle pieces curated from all over the world. Pad Lifestyle sought to differentiate itself via the breadth and uniqueness of designer and luxury brands offered, a design-led identity and the ease of search and discovery for customers in identifying new products.
In seeking to simplify the shopping experience and make sourcing and choosing designer lifestyle and fashion products both seamless and pleasurable, Pad Lifestyle’s mission has been to empower its customers to create stunning designer spaces and outfits on various budgets without compromise. The brand is a disruptive design-led force in the space.
The brand and Padlifestyle.com website have established a loyal customer following, boosted by engaging and eye-catching social media accounts with personality.
In addition to consumers, Pad Lifestyle supplies thousands of trade customers comprising interior designers, architects and business owners.
Pad Lifestyle also established excellent relationships with over 200 brands and suppliers from all over the world. The Company has nurtured these long-term relationships with a low attrition rate.
Trade Mark
The “Pad Lifestyle” brand name is protected by a UK registered trade mark (UK00003557438) covering an array of goods and services, including furniture, lighting, clothing and interior design services.
Domain Names
The Company has a portfolio of desirable domain names. In addition to the primary, high traffic padlifestyle.com domain name, these include variations on the potential Mr Pad and Mrs Pad sub-brands, presenting further expansion opportunities.
The domain names available to acquire are listed below.
Copyright in Website Content
The Company owns the copyright in the content of the sleek Padlifestyle.com e-commerce website, directly linked to revenues. Padlifestyle.com is one of the UK’s top rated, online luxury homeware boutiques.
Padlifestyle.com is the ultimate destination for global design, providing access to an unrivalled collection of the coolest lifestyle and fashion products sourced from across the globe. The website features an enticing blog, inspiring its users on a range of complimentary topics such as architectural design, homeware trends and gift guides, appealing to a wide target audience. Featuring curated photography and tailored content produced in-house, the website’s attractiveness aided its growth and development. The dedicated portal directing its trade buyers to set up a trade account is an additional helpful feature of Padlifestyle.com.
Significant investment went into building the Pad Lifestyle brand and attractive easy to navigate e-commerce website. Built on Shopify, the Pad Lifestyle website was professionally designed by Edinburgh-based design agency Touch. Together with the Company, the agency helped to create the brand’s strong identity.
From January to September 2021, the website attracted c. 170k visitors. Customers originate from across the globe, concentrated in but not limited to the UK, USA, India and Europe. A high proportion of the traffic to the website is organic or driven by email marketing activity, with a significant portion of the visitors also referred via the Company’s popular social media channels.
For the period January 2021 to September 2021, total sales of over £680k were generated via the Company’s e-commerce website channel, with an average order value of £150.
Customer Data
The Company has a vast customer database containing over 6,000 customer records. Regular newsletters and special offers were sent to customers, enhancing engagement.
Social Media
A solid social media presence supports the Pad Lifestyle brand and website:
Instagram – @padlifestyle c. 20.9k followers
Facebook – @padlifestyle c. 6k followers
Inventory
Stock comprised of over 6,000 items of various homeware, furniture, clothing, stationary and branded products from iconic brands is also available.
Offers for the intellectual property assets are due October 25, 2021 at 12 Noon BST.
All expressions of interest and bids are to be directed to Hilco in writing. A Bid Submission Form is available on request. Please contact Hilco to register your interest and for further information.
The bidder acknowledges that Hilco acts as an agent for the Joint Liquidators of the Company who offer for sale only what right, title and interest (if any) the Company possess in the assets. Such sale will be without any warranties, expressed or implied. The information provided has not been verified by Hilco or the Joint Liquidators and bidders are deemed to have carried out their own due diligence.
VAT, if applicable, at 20% will be added to the price. A non-refundable deposit of 20% will be payable by the buyer within 48 hours of bid acceptance. A buyer’s premium of 10% of the sale price is payable by the winning bidder. Legal completion to occur within 5 business days of bid acceptance. Hilco Streambank’s full Terms and Conditions apply.
