Temple & Webster could take its popular online brand overseas

Australia’s most popular online furniture store is weighing up the timing on taking its brand to the world and expanding overseas.

Temple & Webster CEO Mark Coulter.

The nation’s largest online furniture retailer Temple & Webster is in no rush to spend the $139m in swollen cash reserves sitting in its bank, but could use its debt free, gold-plated balance sheet to fund an offshore expansion and take its retail brand global.

Temple & Webster chief executive Mark Coulter said he is contemplating taking the online platform out of Australia for the first time, with merger deals also on the table as his company’s cash war chest attracts merchant bankers looking to do deals.

“We have always talked about at the right time potentially exporting the Temple & Webster proposition to other markets as I think we have built something which is, when I look around at our global peers … done something up there with the world’s best,” Mr Coulter told The Australian after the retailer reported strong interim sales and profits which sent its share price to a record high.

“Our range is good, our digital experience is great, our content is good, our site merchandising is good, it is a lovely brand and our customers are huge advocates, there’s not a lot of online retailers in our category that can say they’ve done all those things and still have the numbers and the growth and the financial profile that we have.

“Would I love to see Temple & Webster as a global brand? Yes I would,” said Mr Coulter, who founded Temple & Webster in 2011.

The company is now the largest online furniture retail in Australia with its sights set on $1bn in sales in the next few years — from just Australia.

“Would we only do it (overseas expansion) at the right time when we feel really secure about Australia? Yes. And I think we’re getting pretty close to feeling … now we can start exploring that.”

Temple & Webster is targeting $1bn in domestic sales.

Mr Coulter said Temple & Webster could also look at merger and acquisition opportunities from a position of strength and move quickly thanks to its large cash reserves.

On Thursday Temple & Webster said its revenue for the December half rose 24 per cent to $313.71m as net profit rocketed 118 per cent to $8.98m. In keeping with its long-held position, no dividend was declared, helping it hold a cash balance of $139m and no debt at the end of the half.

The better-than-expected results sent Temple & Webster shares to an all-time high of $16.78, up more than 17 per cent.

“Temple & Webster has again delivered a record half, with strong performance against all key metrics, against a challenging macro and consumer backdrop,” said Mr Coulter.

“We continue to deliver on our mission of providing beautiful items for the home at great value, as reflected in our strong revenue, active customer and market share growth.”

Furniture continued to be the standout category for the brand. Its recent push into home improvement helped drive sales of bathroom fixtures and delivered sales of $20m for the category, representing growth of 41 per cent.

It said its market share gains and sales growth had continued into the second half with revenue up 16 per cent year-on-year (from 1 January to 10 February 2025), despite the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis.

Temple & Webster reconfirmed its guidance of a 1 per cent to 3 per cent earnings margin for fiscal 2025.

Originally published as Temple & Webster could take its popular online brand overseas