Findel has sold leading wedding website "Confetti" and "I Want One of Those" in a deal worth £600,000 to Metro Holdings, a subsidiary of The Hut Group, which operates zavvi.com and washbag.com. The Hut Group also run white label sites for Debenhams and Woolworths. The retail businesses are operations of Findel’s subsidiary CWIO, which made a combined pre-tax loss of £13.8 million in the year to April 2010. The acquired companies have combined gross assets of £5.7 million and net liabilities of £19.3 million.
Confetti's online store is currently not operating and the retail shops in London, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Reading and Chester are closed. Many customers on the the Confetti forum (which is still functioning) are upset and concerned about their existing orders and the fate of staff at the retail stores:
- "I have some outstanding orders, personalised chocolates (weren't due to be delivered until prob end November), table planner and holder and some favour boxes i paid for all these in Feb/March and recently in July (was waiting for the stock to be replaced) what i want to know is will these be honoured, delivered ?"
- "Was to be expected thou, they have been holding sales continuously for the past year!"
- "I have never bought anything from the shops or website because it is overpriced but I LOVE the forum!"
- "Gutted..."
In response to a number of enquiries a Confetti representative on the forum tried to reassure customers stating that further news would be posted soon.
The announcement, at the height of the wedding season, is likely to effect brides with their last minute wedding purchases.
Confetti is a great brand (Comscore rated it as the UK's No.1 wedding website - Jan 2010) and the wedding forums are very popular as demonstrated by the support on the Facebook, Twitter and forum feeds. It is likely the Hut Group will retain Confetti's online shopping site and will integrate the ecommerce technology platform and fulfilment operations used by The Hut Group's other websites, but this may take some time to implement. 500 new products have been launched by Confetti in recent months covering bridal shoes, tiaras, jewellery, table decorations and wedding stationery taking its range to over 4000 products - these are likely to be cut significantly. The Confetti forum and wedding directory is likely to continue, since advertisers have paid in advance for directory listings and banner adverts. The fate of Confetti's retail shops, however, looks less certain.
The warning signs were evident with ongoing sales and discount codes continuing throughout the year. In fact, the latest "Summer of Love" discount code "ICECREAM" offered 20% off this weekend. Sadly, the ice cream has melted leaving a sticky mess of Confetti in administration, "brides to be" worried about their last minute orders and suppliers wondering if they will ever be paid.
Further announcements are expected from the company shortly.
