The Hut Group

The Hut Group
Type Private
Industry Retail & Technology
Founded March 2004 (2004-03)[1]
Headquarters Northwich, Cheshire[1], United Kingdom
Products Books
Blu-ray
CDs
Computing
DVDs
Electronics
Gifts
Health & Beauty
Lingerie
Perfume
Sports & Leisure equipment
Video Games.[1]
Services White label e-commerce[1]
Revenue £87 million[2]
Employees 500+[3]
Subsidiaries The Hut.com Limited (TheHut.com)
The Hut.com (Trading) Limited
Fourphill (Trading) Limited
Zavvi Limited (Zavvi.com)
Website The Hut Group
TheHut.com
Zavvi.com

The Hut Group is an online retailer based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2004 by CEO Matthew Moulding, it sells non-perishable health and beauty, entertainment, fashion, bags, footwear and gifts.

Contents

History

In March 2004, The Hut Group was founded to compete with websites like Play.com[1] In July 2004 the company's online entertainment retailer was launched. In 2008, DCC Group approached TheHut.com to take over operations of its online retailer Sendit.com.

On 8 August 2008, The Hut.com became sponsors of Burnley Football Club.[4]

On April 15th 2010 The Hut Group Raised £14M to fund its growth and acquisition. [5]

In August 2010, The Hut Group acquired iwantoneofthose.com, a UK based online gift retailer and Confetti.co.uk, a wedding website. [6] The Hut Group put Confetti.co.uk into administration, just days after buying it, which prompted bids from several consortia and individual investors. Confetti.co.uk was bought by an unknown investor.

The Hut Group continues its acquisition progress in a deal worth the £1.4m [7]. On Thursday 25 November 2010, The Hut Group bought Mankind Direct Limited, incorporating www.Mankind.co.uk & www.BeautyExpert.co.uk. The Group bought HQHair.com on Friday 14th January 2011 [8]. On 16th January, 2011, the Group announced its 2010 trading results. Its entertainment sales rose 45% and non-entertainment sales up 600% since 2010[9]. On 2nd June, 2011, The Hut Group acquired MyProtein.com partners with MuscleGen.co.uk [10].

Zavvi.com

On 24 December 2008, the entertainment retailer Zavvi entered into administration.[11] On 27 February 2009, The Hut Group acquired the Zavvi.co.uk online brand from administrators Ernst and Young for an undisclosed sum.[12] The website was re-launched on 2 March, 2009, retaining the same branding. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hut Group.

Awards

In September 2009 The Hut Group topped the Tech Track 100 list of fastest growing technology companies in the United Kingdom.[13] In 2007 and 2008 The Hut Group topped the table for North West England, whilst rising steadily through the national table.

In November 2008, the Hut Group won the Bank of Scotland North West Entrepreneur Challenge, with the prize of a £5 million interest free loan.[14] On 5 February 2009, the company was voted the United Kingdom's best entrepreneur after beating the other regional finalists.[15]

Product range

TheHut.com and Zavvi.com currently sell Books, Blu-ray, CDs, Computing, DVDs, Electronics, Gifts, Lingerie, Perfume, Sports & Leisure equipment and Video Games.[1] CDs, DVDs and games are shipped from the Channel Islands due to favourable tax rates, other items are shipped from the UK mainland.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "The Hut Group History". The Hut Group. http://www.thehutgroup.com/about/history/. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  2. ^ "Strong growth takes The Hut Group to £87m sales". 16 January 2011. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1405444_strong_growth_takes_the_hut_group_to_87m_sales. 
  3. ^ "The Hut Group Linkedin". The Hut Group. http://www.linkedin.com/company/the-hut-group?goback=.cps_1292536583840_1&trk=co_search_results. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 
  4. ^ "TheHut.com unveiled as Burnley Football Club sponsors". The Hut Group. 2009-08-08. http://www.thehutgroup.com/news/thehut-sponsor-burnley-football-club/. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  5. ^ "The Hut Group Raises £14m". 15 April 2010. http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/online-retail/the-hut-group-raises-14m/5012140.article. 
  6. ^ "The Hut Group Acquire IWOOT". 12 August 2010. http://www.mandadeals.co.uk/m-and-a-deals/acquisitions/1274838/the-hut-group-makes-double-acquisition.thtml. 
  7. ^ "The Hut Group Acquire Lookfantastic Group". 9 November 2010. http://retailgazette.co.uk/articles/20034-lookfantastic-group-acquired-by-the-hut-group. 
  8. ^ "Hut Group triples customer database". 16 January 2011. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3c251bc2-2163-11e0-9e3b-00144feab49a.html#axzz1BH9ZFRiy. 
  9. ^ "Strong growth takes The Hut Group to £87m sales". 16 January 2011. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1405444_strong_growth_takes_the_hut_group_to_87m_sales. 
  10. ^ "Hut Group buys online sports nutrition retailer". 2 June 2011. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/844e6814-8c6f-11e0-883f-00144feab49a.html#axzz1OlYxLbNe. 
  11. ^ "Zavvi placed into administration". BBC Online (BBC News). 2008-12-24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7798973.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
  12. ^ "The Hut swoops for Zavvi.co.uk". MCV. 2009-03-02. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/33391/The-Hut-swoops-for-Zavvicouk. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  13. ^ "Tech Track 100 league table 2009". Fast Track. 2008-09-21. http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack2002/migration/dbIndex.asp?siteID=3&searchName=&yr=2009&sort=num&area1=99. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
  14. ^ "The Hut Group wins North West final of Bank of Scotland Entrepreneur Challenge". The Hut Group. 2008-11-28. http://www.thehutgroup.com/news/hut-group-wins-north-west-final-bank-scotland-entrepreneur-challenge/. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  15. ^ "The Hut Group voted Britain’s best entrepreneur". The Hut Group. 2009-02-05. http://www.thehutgroup.com/uncategorized/etailer-judges-choice-britains-entrepreneur/. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  16. ^ Mann, Nick (4 March 2009). "Guernsey link to new Zavvi owners". The Guernsey Press and Star. http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2009/03/04/guernsey-link-to-new-zavvi-owners/. 
  17. ^ "Matt builds Hut to £27m". 11 August 2008. http://www.thehutgroup.com/news/matt-builds-hut-27m/. 

External links

Group Owned Websites / Brands (B2C)