Boohoo has wasted no time making good on its plan to snap up distressed fashion brands for a song in the post-pandemic retail landscape.

  • Boohoo buys Warehouse and Oasis, following acquisitions of PrettyLittleThing, Karen Millen and Coast
  • Boss John Lyttle says the move adds “Zara and Topshop type of fashion product and pricing” to its portfolio
  • Ambition is to revitalise the brands in the UK and also “take them on the global journey”

Just over a month after a £200m share placing to capitalise on the “numerous M&A opportunities that are likely to emerge in the global fashion industry over the coming months”, Boohoo has well and truly saddled up for the acquisition trail.

As well as swooping on the remaining stake in PrettyLittleThing last month, the retailer today acquired the brand and intellectual property of Oasis and Warehouse from restructuring firm Hilco for £5.2m.

The move comes less than a year after Boohoo bought former Warehouse and Oasis stablemates Karen Millen and Coast last August.

Boohoo has form in picking up smaller fashion brands and supercharging their growth, be it Nasty Gal or MissPap. Sales at Nasty Gal rocketed 106% to £98.8m in its last financial year.

But the acquisition of Oasis and Warehouse is the latest move in a new trajectory for the business, diversifying its offer outside of young, price-conscious fashion to a broader portfolio.

Getting the middle market covered

Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle tells Retail Week: “We cover young fashion very well across Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal and MissPap, and up at the other end we had Karen Millen and Coast but we feel we didn’t have that middle-market covered very well – let’s call it the Zara and Topshop type of fashion product and pricing. We felt that there was a gap there and we saw that, from a pureplay angle, there was nobody really covering that very well.

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Boohoo has acquired Oasis and Warehouse for just over or £5m

“Oasis and Warehouse have got great heritage. Obviously they have slipped a bit over the last couple of years but we really felt like, with integration on to our platform and our ways of working, we could really get those brands back and make them strong again.”

Although he would not be drawn on numbers, Lyttle says Karen Millen and Coast’s respective performances since Boohoo acquired them last year have been “ahead of our expectations”, which gave the etailer confidence it could integrate and get the Warehouse and Oasis brands firing on all cylinders quickly.

Similar to what it did with Karen Millen and Coast, Boohoo aims to keep Oasis and Warehouse’s existing brand identities but significantly increase the number of SKUs they offer, aided by a recruitment drive across design, buying and merchandising.

Buying and design will work out of Boohoo’s London office alongside Karen Millen and Coast, while central functions such as IT and HR will remain at the etailer’s Manchester hub. But Boohoo’s ambitions for the two brands don’t stop there.

“Our intention is not just in the UK – for the first time, just over 50% of our sales were international [in its last quarter], so we want to revitalise these brands in the UK market but equally take them on the global journey, which is part and parcel of what we do in all our other brands,” says Lyttle.

“We talk about Oasis and Warehouse covering a Zara-type customer and Zara offers womenswear, menswear, kidswear and homeware. I’m not sure that we’ll go down all those paths but there is still a lot that we can add to these brands from where they are today.”

More M&A to come

Lyttle was clear that Oasis and Warehouse are the next in a long line of acquisitions for Boohoo as it positions itself as fashion’s newest conglomerate.

Today’s acquisitions and stellar trading update in which it posted a 45% surge in group revenue triggered a 9.2% rise in Boohoo shares and valuing the online retailer at £5.3bn — more than Marks & Spencer and Asos combined.

“The fact is that we paid £5m for these brands, so we effectively have £195m left to go,” says Lyttle.

“It doesn’t mean every deal will be £5m, we could make bigger acquisitions, but it shows you firstly the value out there and the firepower we still have left to go after it.”

John Lyttle

John Lyttle rules nothing out when it comes to Boohoo’s ambitions

So where is Boohoo looking to strike next? Lyttle was keen not to rule anything out and said despite the etailer’s dominance in young fashion, another acquisition in this demographic would not be out of the question.

The online retailer is also looking internationally at brands that could “grow market share really quickly” in Europe and the USA.

“It isn’t just about getting a brand at a great price, it is about how it fits strategically into where we feel there’s a gap in the market and it adds value to our group,” says Lyttle.

“There’s an argument that even with the brands we have and the demographics they cover, there are further opportunities. But equally, we don’t cover areas like health and beauty or sportswear and we only have one menswear brand.”

Whether Boohoo decides to diversify the offer of its existing brands or snap up new ones, its deep pockets and operational prowess make it a force to be reckoned with.