Gear4Music reported a surge in its first full-year figures since floating today. Here’s a closer look at the online music equipment retailer.

Gear4music's founder and chief executive Andrew Wass

Andrew Wass

Gear4music’s founder and chief executive Andrew Wass

  • The online retailer was founded in 2003 by chief executive and former sound recording engineer Andrew Wass.
  • The online retailer sells a mix of own-brand and third-party musical instruments and equipment and reported a 33% rise in sales of its own-brand offer in its full-year results today.
  • The etailer floated on AIM in June last year and has previously expressed interest in opening a London showroom – however, the retailer has now said that it is focusing on expanding its online offer.
  • In Gear4music’s first full-year results since floating it reported a 46% increase in sales to £35.4m and a 36% rise in gross profit.
  • Gear4music opened a 9,000 sq ft showroom in Yorkshire in 2009 as well as expanding its distribution and storage capacity.
  • The Yorkshire-based retailer currently stocks 32,000 SKUs from 658 manufacturers and aims to increase its product range to 80,000 within the next few years.
  • The etailer’s products are available for delivery at 2,500 click-and-collect points throughout the UK through third-party fulfilment suppliers including Doddle.
  • Gear4music operates transactional websites in 19 countries across the UK and Europe and delivers to 21 countries including Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
  • As well as selling products through its website the etailer provides content and music news stories, which are updated daily.
  • A spokesperson for the etailer told Retail Week that it is focusing on European expansion as the market of the top 10 countries in the region is worth £4.3bn.
  • Private equity investor Key Capital Partners invested £3.4m in Gear4music in 2012 to expand its international ecommerce platform – the etailer repaid Key Capital Partners in full after floating on AIM last year. 

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