The e-commerce giant The Hut Group has had a meteoric rise. It started out as one of Greater Manchester’s five unicorns - privately owned tech start-ups with a valuation over $1bn - which also includes Boohoo Group, Autotrader, AO.com and Onthebeach.com.
With a huge global reach, it sells its own-brand and third-party products covering health and beauty, fashion, accessories and sport across 160 websites in 35 languages including Hut.com.
Founded in 2004 by Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore with a £500,000 investment it was initially a white label e-commerce provider before acquiring and building brands of its own.
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It has developed a scalable direct-to-consumer retail model under its THG Ingenuity platform. It works with partner brands including Neal's Yard, Nestle and PZ Cussons to host and deliver their ecommerce operations who benefit from The Hut Group's reach and infrastructure.
In September 2020 it completed one of the largest ever floats on the London Stock Exchange and recorded revenue of more than £2bn despite profit margins missing market expectations in its first year as a listed company.
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The best known brands owned by The Hut Group:
Beauty
ESPA
The natural luxury skincare brand was founded in 1992 by spa pioneer Susan Harmsworth MBE who has created spas and treatments used in some of the world's most glamourous locations, including The Mandarin Oriental London and sold in Liberty London, Harvey Nichols and John Lewis. ESPA was acquired by The Hut Group in 2017, including 700 spas in 60 countries.
Illamasqua
Founded in 2008 by Julian Kynaston, Illamasqua is an award-winning brand renowned for its professional-grade products and sold in high end stores including Selfridges and online at lookfantastic.com, amongst others.
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The brand also offers make-up courses within The Illamasqua School of Make-up Art in London, helping to nurture the next generation of qualified artists and enthusiasts.
It was acquired by The Hut Group in 2017.
Lookfantastic®
Lookfantastic is Europe’s number one online beauty retailer and sells 850 high-end beauty brands, including MAC, Bobbi Brown, Nars and Lancôme.
Acquired in 2010, the online portal has taken brands to a huge international audience. According to the Hut Group website, around 64 per cent. of Lookfantastic sales in 2019 were outside the 海角视频.
Glossybox
The Hut Group bought Glossybox in 2017 from majority shareholders Rocket Internet and Kinnevik Online.
Founded in 2011 in Berlin, Glossybox is Europe's number one provider of beauty box subscription services with customers subscribing to a box of beauty products on either a rolling monthly or fixed term basis.
The acquisition was billed as an opportunity for The Hut Group to expand its global reach with an engaged customer base ready made for Glossybox's subscription model. The Hut Group also owns MyGeekBox for geeky goods and for Funko POP vinyl figures it has its PopInABox brand.
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The Glossybox and Lookfantastic beauty box businesses had more than 445,000 monthly subscribers as of July 2020.
Grow Gorgeous
Bought by The Hut Group in 2016, the Canadian hair care brand specialises in hair thickening products for women. Its founder Brandon Truaxe said at the time that the team would continue to innovate for Grow Gorgeous as a 'proud parent'.
Eyeko London
Beauty industry veterans and husband and wife team Max and Nina Leykind launched London-based brand Eyeko back in 1999. They were inspired by Brit style icons like Twiggy to create an 'eye wardrobe' of foolproof eyeliners, mascaras and brow products to achieve iconic the mod look. The Hut Group bought the brand in 2018.
Perricone MD
The Hut Group US luxury skincare brand in 2020.
Founded in 1997, Perricone MD has approximately 100 product patents, with a focus on no-animal testing, ‘clean’ ingredients and gluten free formulations.
Nutrition
Myprotein™
Entrepreneur to The Hut Group in 2011 in a deal reported to be worth £60million after starting it up with an a £500 overdraft. Under The Hut Group, it has evolved from a 海角视频-focused business with £20 million of revenue, into a global leader with over £380 million of revenue in 2019, of which 80 per cent was outside the 海角视频, leading the market in a number of international countries, according to The Hut Group.
Myprotein has a family of brands supplying vegan, vitamins and athleisure. These brands include Myvitmains, Myvegan and MP Clothing.
Last year, it bought Dermstore.com, an online skincare retailer, from the US retail chain Target for $350m (£259m) and spent a total of £60million on two 海角视频-based nutrition suppliers, Claremont Ingredients and David Berryman.
Exante®
Exante offers meal replacement products which offer a mixture of diet soups, diet shakes, bars, porridge and ready meals which are high fibre and high protein and provide 100% of Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals.
More on The Hut Group
Fashion and lifestyle
Coggles
The Hut Group bought designer fashion retailer Coggles out of administration in 2013. Online and with a store in Alderley Edge, it was founded by Victoria Bage in 1974. The story goes that she caught her husband having an affair with his secretary. She promptly divorced him and named the store after the secretary 'Sarah Coggles' to remind him of the mistake he had made.
AllSole
Online shoe retailer selling designer names including Converse and Vans
MyBag
The posh handbag retail brand went even more upmarket in 2014 when it introduced prestige labels including Chanel. Aspinal of London and Karl by Karl Lagerfeld.
Hospitality
Hale Country Club and Spa
A top health club and spa destination in Cheshire billed as a go-to luxury for fitness, relaxation, dining and unwinding from the stresses of daily life.
King Street Townhouse Hotel
A luxury destination in Manchester city centre that boasts a rooftop spa overlooking the city, private cinema and bespoke suites.
Great John Street Hotel
A luxury townhouse hotel with rooftop space overlooking the city centre for for weddings, events or cocktails.
100 King Street
The iconic building located in the heart of Manchester city centre is currently being transformed into a unique creative space to showcase brands, create experiences and inspire.