The Hut Group is an ecommerce business that sells own-brand and third-party products covering health and beauty, fashion, accessories and sport across 160 websites in 35 languages. The business was founded in 2004 and originally focused on entertainment retailing before going on to create white-label websites for retailers such as Asda, Argos and WHSmith. Over the years it has acquired a diverse array of notable brands, including Zavvi, Coggles and Illamasqua. The Hut Group has also built up its B2B service offering into its all-encompassing Ingenuity platform, offering retailers everything from an ecommerce solution to digital content production. However, this remains a “side hustle” as founder and chief executive Matthew Moulding believes its technology business cannot support the levels of revenue and profit its retail operations can.
The Hut Group (THG) has reported growth across all areas of the business following its 2020 IPO.
The Hut Group has acquired online beauty marketplace Cult Beauty for £275m and raised its full-year sales outlook as a result.
The dramatic increase in online shopping during the past decade has sparked a surge in innovative technology businesses being spun out of the retail sector. In some instances, these ecommerce and logistics platforms have become the fastest-growing and often most highly-valued part of a retail business.
Traditional retailers’ fortune have had a bruising year but a number of online retail entrepreneurs have climbed or entered The Sunday Times Rich List for the first time.
THG (formerly the Hut Group) has signed a deal with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to receive $2.3bn (£1.6bn) in investment.
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