Our History

The Hut Group was founded by John Gallemore and Matthew Moulding in March 2004. The idea was to compete with the likes of Amazon, Play.com and other first-to-market online retailers – but with a difference. The platform the retail site would be built on, would be scalable and white-label, allowing The Hut Group to offer its procurement, marketing and fulfilment services to other retail brands.

In May 2004, the Boots Group were the first to come on board, launching their version of The Hut Group’s white label e-commerce model in September of that year. In July, TheHut.com online entertainment retailer was also launched, selling a broad range of entertainment products from DVD, Games to Music and Books. Then ASDA also became a customer, with their website launching in October 2004.

Throughout the next 3 years, The Hut Group’s platform became more sophisticated; adding more product categories for its white label partners such as health and beauty, lingerie and clothing as well as winning more partners from DSGi to The Caudwell Group, while increasing the number of staff employed at the Northwich headquarters to manage the increasing demand. During this time The Hut Group also placed within the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 (see below) and was #1 in the North West.

In early 2008, DCC Group approach The Hut Group to take over full operation of its online retail brand Sendit.com which specialises in entertainment products. In December 2008 The Hut Group won the coveted HBoS Entrepreneur of the Year along with £5m interest-free funds from the bank. In the same month, The Hut Group launched an online entertainment solution for Tesco, giving their customers an uninterrupted shopping experience during peak trading. The Hut Group’s trading fared exceptionally well in 2008 with an annual turnover of £25m.

2009 saw a real step change at The Hut Group. In February, WHSmith’s entertainment store was launch and in March The Hut Group acquired the Zavvi.co.uk URL and customer data from Zavvi’s administrators. With 2 weeks, Zavvi.com was back online trading again at the heart of entertainment. In the following couple of months The Hut Group launched solutions for Argos and Woolworths.

In September The Hut Group place Number 1 in the 2009 Sunday Times Tech Track 100. This Microsoft-sponsored list promotes the fastest-growing privately-owned tech companies in the UK and by the end of the year The Group delivered phenomenal growth; with turnover of £50m+ with 250 employees working at its Cheshire HQ and Distribution Centres.

During the first quarter of 2010, The Group have launched white label sites with department store giant Debenhams and hardcore entertainment retailer Forbidden Planet while also launching zavvi.es, a Spanish version of their successful zavvi.com entertainment retail site, as well as the launch of mybag.co.uk and gifted.com, The Hut Group’s first move into their broader FMCG retail strategy.

In April 2010, The Group completed a fundraise of £14m from a selection of blue-chip investors including Artemis, The William Curry Group, Balderton Capital and Angus Monro. The investment will be used to fund acquisitions, continue organic growth and help the online retailer recruit between 100-150 new members of staff. Angus Monro (former CEO of Matalan), Iain McDonald of The William Currie Group and Mark Evans of Balderton Capital also join The Hut Group’s board.