Online retailer Temple & Webster is chasing maturing millennials coming into the market for furniture and homewares, saying they will help deliver the company its first profit in 2019.

The company announced a spike in revenue of 25 per cent in the second half of the current financial year, taking its 2017/18 revenue to an expected $72.6 million.

In an update on Friday, Temple & Webster said its second-half earnings for 2017/18 rose $300,000 and said its business is now profitable.

Temple & Webster says millennials – people born between the mid-1980s and the mid-90s and now aged 22 to 35 – are now entering its core demographic of 35 to 65 years old.

With their preference for online shopping, the company expects millennials will also be buying furniture and homewares via the internet – growing its customer base.

Temple & Webster says the Australian furniture and homewares market is worth $13.6 billion but just $500 million of purchases are made online.

Total online retail turnover has increased in Australia in the last year.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Friday revealed 5.7 per cent of total purchases were made online in June, up from 4.1 per cent in June 2017.

Temple & Webster also highlighted the growth potential in Australian online furniture and homewares retail, pointing to online sales in the US and UK of 13.7 and 14.2 per cent respectively in 2017, compared to 3.9 per cent locally.

Temple & Webster have struggled over the past few years, posting a loss of $44.4 million in 2015/16.

But it has since increased its number of active customers from less than 140,000 in December, 2016 to nearly 200,000 at the end of June this year.

The company’s shares were up 8.5 cents, or 12.8 per cent, to 75 cents at 1144 AEST on Friday.

-AAP