Online furniture retailer Made.com will file for bankruptcy on Monday after failed attempts to find a buyer.
Around 500 employees, most of them in the UK, are expected to lose their jobs.
Thousands of customers are also faced with the uncertainty of receiving a refund for pending orders.
Fashion and furniture retailer Next is seen as a pioneer in buying the Made brand name.
PwC’s administrators are expected to oversee an intellectual property sale related to the collapsed firm after it officially enters administration.
Made.com announced its intention to appoint administrators last week and the formal court hearing is expected to take place on Monday.
- Pandemic furniture star Made.com is on the brink of collapse
Founded in 2011 to offer affordable yet “high-end” furniture online, Made.com once said it wanted to be the “new Ikea”.
The retailer, which sources furniture directly from designers and manufacturers, has gained a loyal following of mostly younger customers. Sales surged during the pandemic lockdowns as people bought more furniture and other products online, and it was valued at £775million when it went public on the London Stock Exchange last year.
More recently, however, the company has encountered problems as households cut back on large purchases. Global supply chain issues have also caused customers to wait months for deliveries.
The company announced in September that it was looking for an investor willing to keep the business afloat.
It stopped taking new orders in late October and last week its shares were suspended after warning it was running out of funds.
The company’s co-founder, Brent Hoberman, said last week that the company was caught holding “a huge inventory at the wrong time.”
He said there were questions about how the money raised by Made’s listing last year had been spent and whether “potential risks” had been given enough attention.
For the past two weeks customers have complained that furniture they ordered was not delivered and some have been told their orders have been cancelled. Made posted a message on his website saying he’s “really, deeply sorry” for the situation.
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