This year was marked by two major trends. In 2010, venture
capital interest in the sector reignited with several
high-profile deals; there were also very many notable smaller
acquisitions that secured the future of some well-loved brands.
International expansion was also clearly high on the to-do list,
with myriad distance sellers launching operations overseas. With
that in mind, let’s look back at the biggest stories of the year
to date…
January
Britain exits its “deepest recession”, but fears of a
double dip recession remain.
The online business of bankrupt bookseller
Borders is sold-but new owner, The Capital
Organisation, decides not to revive the website. It does,
however, relaunch Borders’ sister brand Books
etc online.
Maternity and nursery products cataloguer/retailer Mamas
& Papas receives additional bank funds to support
continued expansion into the Middle East, Japan, Continental
Europe, and Russia. In the summer of 2010, it signs a deal with
Babies R Us to distribute the brand in the
US.
Pets at Home gets a new home of its own. Private
equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) agrees to buy the
retailer from Bridgepoint Capital for £955 million,
including debt.
Apparel cataloguer Lands’ End says it is
planning to centralise catalogue production at its US
headquarters, affecting approximately 20 UK jobs. Around 60
positions are impacted globally across Lands’ End’s operations in
Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US.
Shop Direct Group plans to make up to 1,500
workers redundant with the closure of call centres in Burnley,
Newtown, and Sunderland. A month later it says it may delay the
closures as it seeks options to avoid job losses.
February
Reader’s Digest UK, the local arm of the global
publisher and direct marketer of books, magazines, music
collections, and videos, falls into administration after the UK
pension regulator blocks a deal to reduce its £125 million
pension deficit. The direct marketer is bought out in April by a
private equity-backed MBO.
As part of its planned international expansion, Germany-based
online private shopping club, Brands4friends.de,
makes a “significant investment” in London-based
rival SecretSales.com. Later in the year,
SecretSales.com secures a second round of investment from
Brands4friends.
Plant nursery Hayloft Plants enters the
grow-your-own sector with the acquisition of bedding and
vegetable etailer Plantconnection.
Struggling ethical-fashion etailer Adili, which trades as
Ascension, is bought for £1 by private
investor Luke Heron, whose other investments include eco-friendly
baby-goods cataloguer Green Baby.
Seed and plant cataloguer Thompson & Morgan
becomes the new owner of plant food manufacturer Chempak.
March
Schoolwear supplier Trutex is snapped up by
private equity house Endless.
Shoe-shop.com, the online business founded by
Stuart Paver, mergers with Pavers-the retail
company owned by his mother Catherine.
At March’s budget speech, Alistair Darling announces that from
31st January 2011, VAT will be applied at the standard rate to
certain postal services provided by the universal service
provider (Royal Mail). HMRC begins looking at VAT refund claims
later in the year.
To help support it through the next stage of growth, which
includes opening 10 new stores and increasing its product offer,
apparel retailer White Stuff arranges a new
working capital facility with Lloyds Bank.
April
US private-equity firm TA Associates agrees to buy
cataloguer/retailer Cath Kidston for £100
million.
Switzerland-based luxury conglomerate Richemont confirms on 1st
April that it has bought the majority stake in London-based
fashion etailer Net-a-Porter.
Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union agree a deal to
end the pay and modernisation dispute. Postal workers will
receive a 6.9 per cent pay rise over the next three years; in turn
the union will cooperate with Royal Mail’s modernisation
programme. Another clause of the deal is that the cap on
unaddressed mail a postie can deliver-currently set at three
pieces per household-is to be lifted.
The directors of Farepak, the hamper company
that collapsed in 2006 leaving thousands of customers out of
pocket by an average of £400, are ordered to pay £4
million compensation out of their own pockets. The new settlement
means Farepak customers who put £400 into the savings scheme
would receive £60 rather than £16 as previously
promised.
May
New rules drafted by the European Commission intended to help
luxury-brand owners protect their brand image, may result in
restricting the online sale of branded goods.
Beauty products retailer Molton Brown announces
plans to expand into new international markets including the US
and Australia.
Art and craft retailer HobbyCraft is acquired by
a management buyout back by private equity firm Bridgepoint.
Lush, a retailer of handmade beauty products,
closes its loss-making cosmetics arm B Never Too Busy To
Be Beautiful.
Mohamed Al Fayed sells Harrods to the Qatari
royal family in a deal rumoured to be worth £1.5
billion.
New York-based private investment firm Clearlake Capital Group
sells general merchandiser Buy.com to Japanese
online shopping mall Rakuten valuing Buy.com at
approximately £172.8 million. In June, Rakuten establishes a
foothold in Europe with the acquisition of France’s
PriceMinister website for £167
million.
Aurora Fashions, which operates apparel brands
Coast, Karen Millen, and
Oasis, announces plans to open a US website for
its Karen Millen brand and local-language sites
for all of its brands starting with German, Dutch, and French
websites.
LoveHoney, the online retailer of sex toys,
enters the home-party market with a “six-figure
investment” in lingerie and sex toy party-plan company,
BlueBella.
TV-shopping business Colourful Company Group
agrees to buy rival station Gems TV UK for
£3 million.
June
Following the conclusion of a review at its education division,
Findel reduces its pretax profit by £6.4
million, and benchmark profit by a further £6.4 million due
to unsubstantiated accounting entries. In the same month it
divests its debt-laden subsidiary Webb to
turnaround specialist Endless, which paid £1.
Multibrand cataloguer N Brown takes its
plus-size apparel title Simply Be to the USA
with a 1 million catalogue print run and website. It also
announces the acquisition of lingerie etailer
Figleaves for £11.5 million.
Co-operative Xest, a catalogue selling mobility
products and other daily living aids strengthens its presence in
the sector with the acquisition of competitor
BenefitsNow.
Isis Private Equity invests £4 million in personalised gifts
etailer GettingPersonal.co.uk.
Grocery etailer Ocado formally announces its
intention to float on the stock market.
Fashion retailers Zara and H&M
confirm they will finally launch transactional websites in the UK
in September. H&M later says it will debut a print catalogue for
the UK in December.
The government announces that VAT will rise to 20 per cent from
4th January 2010.
July
Amazon unveils its UK grocery store. The new
department sells dried goods, beverages, and fresh food including
fresh meat and fish. Mail order butcher Donald
Russell and fishmonger The Fish Society
are among the first merchants selling through the site.
Extreme Group puts a for-sale sign on its
apparel website Extremepie.com.
Luxury etailer My-Wardrobe.com secures a
£5.9 million Series A investment round led by Balderton
Capital.
Educational toys and games cataloguer
BrightMinds buys The Sleepover
Company, a children’s furniture catalogue, for an
undisclosed sum.
Avon, the direct seller of cosmetics and beauty
products, agrees to buy the assets of direct selling
jewellery business Silpada
for approximately £426.1 million. In March, Avon bought Isle
of Wight-based Liz Earle Cosmetics.
NBTY, the US-based manufacturer and marketer of
nutritional supplements and owner of Holland &
Barrett and Julian Graves, is sold to
global investment firm Carlyle Group for approximately £2.49
billion.
Confectionery cataloguer/retailer Hotel Chocolat
raises £3.7 million through the sale of chocolate bonds to
its customers.
Mothercare acquires the Blooming
Marvellous brand and trademark for an undisclosed sum.
It also takes a 25 per cent stake in Headline
Group, the company that operates the Mothercare and
Early Learning Centre franchises in Australia
and New Zealand.
M and M Direct goes live with its
German-language website.
As a cost-cutting measure, confectioner
Thorntons announces “a staff restructuring
programme” that will make 35 head office employees
redundant.
Adili founder Adam Smith and business partner James Akin-Smith
purchase the assets of cataloguer/etailer Spirit of
Nature and relaunch the business.
August
Notonthehighstreet.com secures £7.5 million
in investment from Index Partners.
Men’s Wearhouse, a US-based menswear retailer,
buys UK-based corporate clothing and workwear supplier
Dimensions Clothing and the assets of collapsed
uniforms supplier Alexandra for approximately
£61 million. Alexandra fell into administration in June,
shortly after announcing its restructure.
Following its acquisition of Flowers Direct for
£2.95 million in May, multititle catalogue group Flying
Brands announces the acquisition of London florist Drake
Algar for £500,000 and Garden Centre
Online for £130,000.
Findel disposes of its subsidiaries
Confetti and I Want One of
Those to Metro Holdings, a subsidiary of The Hut
Group, for £600,000. The Hut then places
wedding-supplies website Confetti into administration. Confetti
is acquired in September by businessman George Buchan for an
undisclosed sum.
Furniture retailer/cataloguer Dwell receives a
£5 million investment from private-equity firm Key Capital
Partners.
September
WHSmith acquires Gadgetshop.com
from toy retailer The Entertainer.
Outdoor apparel retailer Snow + Rock acquires
running accessories retailer Runners Need for an
undisclosed sum. Two weeks later, it announces an MBO led by
managing director Dion Taylor and backed by LGV Capital.
Boden confirms its intension to fully launch its
Austrian business, which was trialled successfully during the
year. It will also expand to other, as yet undisclosed, European
countries in 2011.
Royal Mail is to be privatised or sold, with ten per cent of
shares in the business promised to the workforce. Leaders of the
Communication Workers Union slam the proposal, deeming the
government’s plans “deeply patronising”. The Trades
Union Congress (TUC) joins the CWU’s campaign to fight the
privatisation plans.
UK-based retailer Next signs a deal with Sears
to have its clothing sold online in the US via
Sears.com.
Hotter Comfort Concept, the shoe
retailer/cataloguer, begins distributing its catalogues in the US
and sets up a website to serve American customers.
The management team of The Gro Company, the
company behind the Grobaby sleeping bags, buys a
“significant stake” in the company. Founders and
owners, Rob and Ouvrielle Holmes, retain a majority
shareholding.
Stanley Gibbons, the stamp and collectibles
specialist, buys Benham from Flying
Brands for £1.5 million.
October
High-street chemist Lloydspharmacy acquires
living-aids cataloguer/etailer Betterlife
Healthcare.
Nigel’s Eco Store, an online seller of
environmentally friendly products, acquires
EcoCentric.co.uk, an eco-homewares
etailer.
Following the launch of its US website in September, apparel
etailer ASOS launches French and German-language
sites.
The price of cotton soars to a new record. Rising demand in
China, poor harvests in Pakistan and a switch by farmers from
cotton to biofuels are blamed for the limited supply and the
price hike.
The Cotswold Company purchases the brand,
database and exclusive supply rights of New
Heights furniture. New Heights had initially entered
administration in 2008.
Continuing its acquisition drive, Flying Brands
buys 50 per cent of Dealtastic Holdings
Limited.
November
Haroldrex Ventures, the company behind gifts and
collectibles brands Compton & Woodhouse,
Brooks & Bentley and Diamond Discount
Centre, falls into administration with the loss of 30
jobs. Its assets are subsequently acquired by Owen &
Williamson Ltd.
Darwin Private Equity takes the majority stake in office-supplies
firm Euroffice.
Bennetts of Sheffield, a retailer and direct
seller of angling supplies ceases trading.
Scotts & Co, the multititle catalogue group
which operates Scotts of Stow and The
Original Gift Company amongst others buys apparel
cataloguer Artigiano from the administrators for
an undisclosed sum.
B-to-b giant Brady Corporation, which operates
Seton and Welco in the UK, acquires ID
Warehouse, an Australian supplier of identification and
security products, for an undisclosed sum. In April, Brady bought
Securimed, a French direct marketer of first-aid
supplies.
The Carlyle Group acquires six titles from
Primondo, the mail order arm of collapsed German
multichannel retailer Arcandor.
Lyco Direct expands reach into the b-to-c market
with the acquisition of Lighting Direct. Earlier
in the year it launched LightingforHomes.co.uk,
a website selling domestic lighting and interiors.
December
The Hut Group, which bought I Want One
Of Those.com in August, makes two more acquisitions. On
its shopping list are
cosmetics etailer Lookfantastic Group, for which
it paid £19.4 million in November and men’s grooming
cataloguer Mankind Direct snapped up for
£2.5 million in December.
A seller of all things environmentally friendly, Ethical
Superstore launches a marketplace on its website to
allow ethical businesses and charities to sell their wares to the
public.
Kays Medical, a supplier of health and safety
products, equipment, and training services acquires medical
equipment supplier DM Wood Medical.
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