A North East online fashion firm is set to grow after being snapped up by an experienced retailer in a six-figure deal.
Sunderland-based What About This (WAT) was launched three years ago by Laura Middleton to fill a gap in the market for busy women wanting to look and feel good in affordable fashions.
Part of the the community marketing group The Office Rocks Ltd, the firm is dedicated to providing curated ranges of stylish clothing and accessories for women and has seen impressive growth, even throughout the pandemic when its customers could also keep in touch though its online community.
Founder and managing director Laura Middleton will stay on “at arm’s length” as a consultant, but is looking forward to seeing WAT grow under new owner David Quinn.
She said: “What About This has been a large part of The Office Rocks family for the last two and a half years and we’ve given it our all to turn it into the successful business it is now. We’re absolutely delighted that David spotted its potential. David’s extensive experience, ambitious plans and his desire to grow the business in the North East made him the perfect buyer.
“We are delighted that the full team have remained in place, and that the transition has, therefore, been so smooth. We were all determined that our customers would see no disruption whatsoever.
“During the pandemic there were challenging times for everyone and it was about being sensible. As things started to ease we felt the changes, we felt our customers getting joy and excitement back.
“We navigated it all the way through the pandemic, and kept it simple, focussing on our community, giving them somewhere to be part of something special and talk about how they were whilst also shopping.
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“We had to decide where we see the businesses going, and running two businesses while having three young children means there’s so much work. We thought we were never going to be able to realise their potential. So we made the decision together.
“We have done a very in-depth handover and don’t think our customers would have felt it. I’m going to be at arm’s length and we have built a really nice relationship. David will be able to scale it to the next level and I want it see it grow and grow."
Mr Quinn has worked with a number of high-profile international brands but is best known regionally for his roles as managing director of Newcastle department store Fenwick, and he is also CEO of online fashion powerhouse, Pink Boutique. He was also the founding chairman and a director of Newcastle Business improvement district (BID) company, NE1 Ltd.
He said: “I’m delighted with the acquisition of What About This, which is a real success story for the region. I’m a passionate advocate for North East business and I look forward to channelling my expertise into the business to support the team and further develop the brand.
“The strength of WAT’s retail offering is underpinned by a skilled and motivated team, with a strong focus on customer engagement. I’m thrilled to be working with the team as we start a new chapter for the business and build on the strong foundations Laura and the team have laid. As a team, we are hugely excited for the future.”
Ms Middleton said she will now focus more on The Office Rocks.
Following the growth and demand of the founding company and its hub of online communities, her partner Ben Middleton joined the business in 2019 to focus on operations and finance.
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He added: “We’re very excited to now be able to focus on our other brands and the underlying digital agency The Office Rocks.
“The Office Rocks creates and delivers successful and highly targeted marketing campaigns to ensure a brand’s maximum exposure, traffic and sales. We are a small team with ambitious plans, and we’ll be using our extensive experience in media publishing and ecommerce marketing to offer full marketing services to online brands that are looking to grow.”