Small domestic appliance stockist, AO World has stockpiled its most popular products to a value of around £15m in preparation for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. The retailer has explained that:“This will help ensure we can continue to deliver our market-leading proposition to our customers.”
AO.com (which sponsored the11th series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent last year) trades in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The group has also warned that profits in the financial year to the end of March would be “at the lower end of market expectations.”
AO is one example of retailers that are piling up supplies of housewares and other consumer goods. Companies are ‘stockpiling goods at the fastest rate since records began in the 1980s as the prospect of a no-deal exit from the EU continues to cause concern,’ says the Financial Times. The newspaper highlights research by IHS Markit/CIPS released last week that showed that the rate of increase in stocks hit a survey record high for the third consecutive month.
Top: AO’s wide range of SDAs includes kettles and toasters.
