Rowen Homes, a luxury homeware brand based in the North East, has recruited ex-Made.com head of buying Rob Hudson.
Previously associated with brands including BHS and Next Home, Rob will bring a wealth of industry experience to the role. He spent the last seven years at Made.com, where he led the buying department, helping the company achieve £371m revenue in 2021. He hopes to build the same success with Rowen Homes.
“After 13 years within the furniture-buying sector, I'm excited to be joining Rowen Homes who have been a real disruptor in their sector, achieving great success since launching two years ago. I love the energy and pace within the business and I'm looking forward to helping expand our supply base and current product categories, to build on our inspirational, yet accessible product proposition,” says Rob.
Rob is leading a buying team of four, which is responsible for sourcing and developing over 8000 products for the luxury online home store, which achieved £9.6m in sales in its first two years.
Founded during the pandemic in August 2020 by Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur Alice Hall and her husband Andrew, Rowen Homes has amassed a social media following of over one million, driven by its unique approach to homeware and the team’s passion for all things interiors.
Alice says: “We’re thrilled to have Rob Hudson joining us to run the buying team and help us source more amazing stock. Our current team has done an incredible job, sourcing over 8000 lines for shoot and release in our Blaydon studio, but demand is so high that we now have a need for more suppliers and many more lines. Rob has the exact skillset we need, being experienced in the technicalities of furniture and with the ability to manage large merchandising budgets.”
Rob joins the business at an critical time, as Rowen Homes is set to launch a crowdfunding campaign in the next month to help raise £1.5m to grow the business and invest into stock to strengthen product availability. The business has been recruiting angel investors for the first part of the campaign, with "great success".
