OKA Direct

OKA
Limited Company
Industry Furniture & Home Accessories
Genre Retailer
Founded 1999 (1999)
Founder Annabel Astor, Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Key people
 Annabel Astor, Sue Jones, Lucinda Waterhouse, Peter Chappelow, Octavia Morley
Website www.oka.com

OKA (also known as OKA Direct) is a British luxury furniture and home accessories retailer founded in 1999 by Annabel Astor, Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse. OKA now has 13 shops across the UK together with British, European and American websites and a catalogue business.

History

OKA started as a mail order company in 1999, before opening its first shop in 2000. The idea for an interiors business came to Annabel when she was struggling to find good quality, stylish furniture at an affordable price to furnish a house in Florida. Since the beginning, Annabel, her sister-in-law Sue Jones and friend Lucinda Waterhouse have travelled all over the Far East to source products for the range and still do the buying today. The initial product range was 'rattan' for the first OKA catalogue – which was photographed in Jane Churchill and Bruce Oldfield's homes - followed by painted wooden furniture, alongside replicas of 18th century blue and white porcelain and a range of Chinoiserie furniture.[1] Today, OKA is known for its 'inspirational' lifestyle lookbook which feature three different interior designed homes every spring, summer and autumn, and the brand has been described by interiors journalists as 'elegantly bohemian'.[2] OKA has two flagships showrooms in the UK that house the entire collection: Froxfield, an 8,000 sq ft showroom and a smaller garden room outside, and the Chelsea flagship showroom on Fulham Road opened in 2010 with three floors, becoming OKA's biggest showroom.[3]

In September 2011, OKA opened a concession in the department store Selfridges on Oxford Street in London, and the concession closed on 24 February 2013.[4] In May 2016, OKA opened a concession in Hoopers Department Store, Tunbridge Wells.[5] In 2009, OKA’s warehousing facilities moved from Berinsfield to a larger warehouse facility of over 100,000 sq ft based in Milton Park, Oxfordshire,[6] where their customer service and head office is also based.

The ecommerce website launched in 2001, followed by a redesign in 2011 and a responsive site redesign for tablet and mobile in 2013.[7] On 18 July 2013, OKA launched their interiors and lifestyle blog, Tuk Tuk, offering design tips, how to guides and an insight into current interiors trends.[8] OKA signed Total Media in April 2014 as their media agency to oversee online and offline advertising.[9] In May 2014, it was announced that Peter Chappelow had been appointed as non-executive chairman, replacing Graham Frost.[10] In October 2014, Octavia Morley was appointed as CEO.[11]

OKA reported a 23% rise in online sales and 17% rise in overall profit for 2013, taking their annual turnover to £19.9m.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "OKA rules, ok yah! How Annabel Astor is catering for the middle classes". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Lady Annabel Astor: Samantha Cameron's mother opens up about her remarkable extended family". The Daily MailStandard. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Oka: Lady Astor's new flagship furniture store". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Furniture Retailer OKA arrives at London Selfridges". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "OKA Direct celebrates new store openings". Direct Commerce. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "OKA Moves to Milton Park". MEPC. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Responsive Website Resign for OKA". Behance. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Welcome to the OKA blog". Tuk Tuk, The OKA Blog. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "OKA selects Total Media to put products at the heart of new campaign". Total Media. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "Lady Astor's OKA appoints retail veteran". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Oka Direct appoints Octavia Morley as chief executive". Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "Lady Astor's OKA posts profit surge after wooing younger shoppers". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 September 2014.

Coordinates: 51°29′30.78″N 0°10′17.82″W / 51.4918833°N 0.1716167°W / 51.4918833; -0.1716167

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