Boohoo (including BoohooMan) is a fast fashion ecommerce group based in Manchester which owns and operates an eponymous clothing brand alongside PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, Miss Pap, Karen Millen, Coast, Oasis, Warehouse, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Wallis.
In a challenging retail environment, particularly online, total sales at the group fell 10.8% to £1.77bn over the year to end-February 2023 (FY2022), with the UK division posting a 9.3% decline to £1.09bn while international sales dropped 13.2% to £677.2m.
The group was founded as the sole Boohoo brand in 2006 by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane with an aim to design, source, market and sell clothing, shoes and accessories targeted at younger female consumers. The retailer launched its standalone menswear offering a decade later and has since gone on to expand into beauty to remain competitive against rival Asos.
Boohoo’s acquisitive nature has allowed the group to broaden its target audience by widening its product offer and price range. Efforts to widen its appeal beyond its core demographic include pivoting Debenhams into a digital department store.
Boohoo is also focused on increasing its warehousing and distribution capacity to be able to support over £4bn of net sales. This has included automation at the Sheffield warehouse, the opening of third and fourth warehouses in Wellingborough and Daventry and the set up of a Leicester factory and showcase facility.
Boohoo completed its flotation on the AIM in 2014 and used funds raised to scale up its supply chain facilities as it aimed to generate £3bn of global sales. There has also been a focus on improving its apps and websites, as well as exploiting influencers and social media technology to improve customer acquisition and retention.
Innovation rating: 3
