Back to basics: how premium homeware specialist Oka is rebuilding after a crisis

When friends Annabel Astor, Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse founded Oka in the late 1990s, their decision was bold for the time.

Inspired by the beauty of handmade homewares in the East Asia, they established supply chains and built relationships with factories to bring artisanal furniture and decor to what was then a relatively bland British homeware market. The relationships established then still form the foundations of Oka’s product mix today.

“They were quite intrepid, these ladies, very adventurous,” says Oka’s current chief customer officer, Aalish Yorke-Long, who is taking Jones on a sourcing trip to India this year. 

“They set up those relationships that still form the foundation of our supply chain. We’re still working at the same factories. The founders have still got very good relationships with all the factory owners and that has defined the aesthetic throughout the brand.”

However, that adventurous spirit has been tested over the years. Rapid overseas expansion saddled Oka with significant liabilities, culminating in its US business filing for bankruptcy last year. Now, still under the ownership of Italian private equity firm Invest Industrial (which also has stakes in Eataly, Morgan Motor Company and Ermenegildo Zegna), it has completed a financial restructuring and is going back to basics. 

Dual strategy

Despite a tough few years, the retailer is pursuing an ambitious dual strategy of digital enhancement and physical expansion. It recently replatformed its website to Shopify, implementing bespoke functionality that allows for complex made-to-order configurations – something that chief executive Mark Saunders says “no one else is doing on Shopify”.

“This gives us much more flexibility in the way we configure the range,” he says. “On the homepage, you can shop the scene from the main category banner, which no one else is doing. There are all sorts of really cool features. It should be an experience where people can sit in the evening and really enjoy shopping.” 

Saunders knows a thing or two about getting businesses back on their feet, having successfully orchestrated the turnaround of nursery brand Mamas & Papas.

As much as its digital replatforming has already started to reap rewards, Saunders believes the real growth is in stores. 

Oka has 14 stores and concessions across the UK, including a recent opening in home retail destination Redbrick Mill in Batley, Yorkshire. Another concession at a major department store is set to open in August. 

“When people go to Redbrick Mill, they’re there for five or six hours,” he says. 

“Obviously, we would all aspire to sell one person everything from your concession, but the reality is that’s not going to happen. In that environment, you can go, ‘Actually, I’d just like to try this with that.’”

Making sure Oka is offering an entire home solution, in every room of the house, is also high up on his list of priorities.

”We’re not big in bedrooms at the moment and addressing that is part of the strategy,” Saunders adds. 

On target

Oka’s target demographic reflects the broader challenges facing premium home retailers. While the brand aspires to serve everyone, its core customer skews “post-40” – established homeowners with disposable income who appreciate craft and are willing to pay for quality.

But Yorke-Long has observed a growing trend of multigenerational shopping, with older customers bringing their adult children into stores, which she thinks will lead to a customer acquisition model. 

“The typical customer journey starts with an accessory,” she says. “We’re seeing customers at the start of that home-buying cycle – they’re buying their first homes, they won’t be able to afford some of the stuff that we do, but they’ll buy highlights, cushions or some home accessories. Cushions are huge for us – this is your entry level. Buy a cushion, fall in love with it, and come back and decorate the entire house.” 

With sales up to £55.7m in its latest results, Oka’s focus on the basics – physical expansion, digital improvements and product show – a retailer that has learned hard lessons about rapid expansion, but realigned the business around its core proposition. 

“We’re not trend-led,” Yorke-Long says. “We are more driven by sourcing and the partnerships that we have with the factories, rather than what’s going on in the market.”

Saunders agrees: “That was always the original ethos of the business. The founders said they didn’t worry too much about what everybody else was getting up to. They just stuck to their knitting.”