Speaking to TTG at Advantage’s conference in Madeira on Sunday (1 May), leisure director Kelly Cookes said the group has recruited “six or seven” homeworkers since it launched in summer 2020.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a big focus when we launched, but we felt we needed it. We didn’t have that solution in place,” Cookes said.

“It’s a growing part of the market. We all recognised quite quickly that once people had been exposed to that flexibility that homeworking offers, we needed a solution.

“The plan was always to have around five homeworkers within the first 18 months. We’re around six or seven now.”

The group “deliberately” recruited homeworkers at “different parts of the journey” selling a range of products in a bid to diversify the brand’s offering.

Over the next few months, Cookes said Advantage will start promoting the division “a lot more loudly”.

“It has got a very strong commercial proposition, but we’ve not really done much with it yet,” she added. “But now we’re comfortable with it, we’ll start to promote it more heavily.”

Advantage will target “more experienced” homeworkers who generate a bigger turnover. “We know who will benefit most from our offering, and we know who we can service,” Cookes continued.

“We’re not right for all types of homeworking; we are targeting the more experienced homeworker who is generating a bigger turnover. In return for that, we are not going to take anywhere near the cut of their commission that most homeworking models take.”