Online marketplace Redbubble says strong apparel sales across both of its marketplaces delivered a solid result in the first half.

As reported last month, the company’s marketplace revenue (MPR) reached $289.3 million after momentum improved in the second quarter. It was up by 3 per cent year on year and by 5 per cent
on an underlying basis.

Promotional initiatives improved the proportion of revenue from repeat purchases, which increased 47 per cent during the half.

The business’ custom apparel design platform, Teerepublic, delivered double-digit MPR despite what it described as macroeconomic headwinds.

Michael Ilczynski, Redbubble’s CEO, said the business expects market conditions to “remain challenging in the short term”.

“Accordingly, we have narrowed our near-term priorities to focus on those which will assist us to improve our gross profit after paid acquisition margin and accelerate our return to cash flow positive.”

As a result, the group expects this year’s MPR to be well below last year’s due to softening consumer demand.

“Enhancing the Redbubble marketplace’s content quality and search and discovery is a primary focus for the group to ensure customers can find products among 4 billion listings that appeal to their specific interests and needs,” he said.