Stats revealed in a poll by the online retailer showed that more than 81 per cent of Brits are planning to do their Christmas shopping online this year and 71 per cent of people still think online shopping is the best way to buy Christmas presents.

The online retailer expects to ship over 5 million parcels in December representing over 6000 tonnes of goods that will include everything from DVDs to video games, CDs to Books & Electronics to Underwear.

Sales figures from Monday 23rd November show that online shopping for the festive season has already started with The Hut Group recording their busiest day ever, with 1600 orders a minute coming through at the peak time of 8-9pm.

The Hut Group, who ranked number 1 in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 of the UK’s fastest growing companies, has two thriving retail brands, The Hut.com and Zavvi.com.

The Group has seen a sales increase of over 400% year on year from £25m in 2008 with innovative trading techniques and an aggressive customer acquisition strategy through new routes to consumers like its ‘Ebay Outlet’ which has seen over 20,000 orders in its first 3 weeks of trading and is well on track meet its turnover targets

“Monday’s are always the busiest day for online shopping, and this will be a record breaking period for The Hut Group” comments Richard Chapple, Commercial Director. “In the recession, when every penny counts, The Hut Group’s sites will be offering customers more value and better prices on the must have products than ever before.”

For further enquiries regarding The Hut Group or any of our sites please contact us here or alternatively, phone us on 01606 338197.

About The Hut Group

Based in Northwich Cheshire, The Hut Group is a successful ecommerce provider founded in 2004 by Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore.

With two thriving retail brands, TheHut.com and Zavvi.com, The Hut Group has emerged as an online retail success story having averaged 189 per cent growth over the last 4 years.

In October 2009, The Hut Group was ranked number one in The Sunday Times ‘Tech Track 100’, making it the fastest-growling private technology firm in the UK.

For further information, please visit TheHut.com, or TheHutGroup.com

Ecommerce provider, The Hut Group, has ranked Number 1 in this year’s ‘Sunday Times Tech Track 100’. Appearing for the third consecutive year, The Hut Group has seen sales grow 189 per cent a year from £997,000 in 2005 to £24m in 2008.

The list ranks the fastest-growing private technology companies in Britain by sales growth over a three-year period. Rising from eighth position in 2008, The Hut Group runs its own stores, TheHut.com, a broad market place, which offers a range of lifestyle products such as clothing, beauty, entertainment and electronics. It also acquired high street brand, Zavvi.co.uk in March this year and transformed it into a thriving leisure and entertainment focused online-only retailer.

Matthew Moulding, CEO at The Hut Group (THG), comments, “To be ranked 1 is a incredible achievement. Given the tough economic climate, the huge growth and subsequent listing in the Tech Track is especially rewarding and we’re thrilled we have been able to buck the downward trend.

“The company has grown rapidly and thanks to the demand for competitively priced entertainment products and our new product categories. There is a real opportunity for us to drive the business forward; we’ll continue improve the overall offer and experience to our customers which is our overall goal, this will deliver increased in market share in all the areas we operate in. The recent raft of management appointments within the senior team means we are well on the way to deliver our ambitious target of £90m turnover in 2009 and driving the business to the next stage in its exciting journey,” continues Moulding.

In the coming months, the group will continue to expand the range of products available, offering customers increased choice and functionality, while delivering the best price and value; making them the best choice for consumers during peak Christmas trading in 2009.

About The Hut Group

Based in Northwich, Cheshire, The Hut Group (THG) was established in 2004 by entrepreneurs, Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore.

The Hut Group has two successful retail brands within its portfolio. TheHut.com is a multi-channel retailer offering a variety of home entertainment and lifestyle products, such as DVDs, Blu-ray and CDs, as well as lingerie, cosmetics and sports and leisure equipment.

High street brand Zavvi was acquired by The Hut Group in March 2009 and is now a thriving online-only retailer. The refreshed Zavvi.com website offers customers a wider choice of entertainment products, with free delivery.

A Sunday Times Tech Track company, The Hut Group is the fastest growing technology company and is ranked 1 in the UK.

For further information, please visit TheHut.com, Zavvi.com or TheHutGroup.com.

Follow us on Twitter: @thehut_com and @zavvionline

Luzio brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge in the gaming and retail sector.

As head of games at Play.com for over seven years, Luzio played a fundamental role in establishing its games offering, building the brand and solidified himself as a reputable commentator in the retail and gaming communities. While at Play.com, Luzio helped the company win the Golden Joystick Retailer of the Year award voted for by consumers. Luzio has also held senior positions at Global Software Publishing Ltd and Midas Interactive.

Matthew Moulding, CEO at The Hut Group, Zavvi.com and TheHut.com, comments, “Gian is an industry heavyweight and is very well known in the gaming world. He has a huge amount of online retail experience that will be invaluable as we look to drive the growth of the company and challenge the major players in the entertainment retail sector. Gian will be invaluable as we look to strengthen our supplier and customer relationships as well as maximising operational efficiencies, brand awareness and product development.”

Gian Luzio, adds, “I am delighted to have joined The Hut Group and I’m excited about the opportunities to share my expertise. The Hut Group has grown rapidly in the past six months and I am thrilled that I can be part of its future expansion. I look forward to working with an enthusiastic team to strategically enhance product offerings and optimise sales.”

Luzio is based at The Hut Group’s head office in Northwich, Cheshire, and oversees a team of 20 people.

TheHut.com is the UK’s fourth largest online entertainment retailer selling a range of cheap DVDs, Blu ray, cheap CDs, games consoles, books, lingerie, perfume and computing.

Clearwater Corporate Finance advised The Hut Group on the deal, which will see the creation of up to 100 jobs over the next 12 months at their head office in Northwich, Cheshire, where the company also runs http://domain1995002.sites.fasthosts.com/?p=51 Online retailing entrepreneur Matt Moulding has quietly built the fifth-largest online retailer of entertainment products in the UK, behind Play.com, Amazon, HMV and Game. His company TheHut.com is little known. It produces entertainment channels selling CDs, games, DVDs and other entertainment products.

In the year to the end of June the Northwich-based company made a pre-tax profit of around £200,000 on sales of £14.1m but Moulding expects sales by the end of the year to be much higher. “We’re turning over £1.5m a month compared to £500,000 a month this last year,” he said. “Our big period is Christmas, and our run rate off the first six months suggests we’ll do £27m.”

Moulding, 36, who owns 58 per cent of TheHut.com, said he began looking at the idea of an online entertainment site after buying a CD from a Jersey-based business in October 2003. When he discovered firms based offshore had been able to take advantage of a rule known as the Low Value Consignment Relief (which exempted items below £18 that are purchased outside the EU from VAT), he started planning his own launch and eventually convinced a couple of friends to chip in to help launch the site with an initial £500,000 investment.

The offshore advantage had almost disappeared prior to the site’s launch in April 2004 once HMV and Tesco announced plans to open their own offshore operations. Yet he and former Caudwell colleague John Gallemore (who has run the site since its inception and holds an 18 per cent stake) persevered.

As it is, he still expects TheHut.com site to bring in around £6m of the forecasted £27m for 2008 but admits it needs an overhaul.

The firm currently ships all CDs and games from three warehouses in Guernsey and Jersey but has recently been looking at other options including shipping from Chicago, which would be “less expensive and just as quick, if not quicker”.

He said the long term goal was to grow sales to £100m through developing new territories, customers and sales channels.

For new channels, it is planning to launch online sales of flowers, t-shirts, lingerie and perfume, among others. The latter will be done in conjunction with fellow Burnley FC fan, Brendan Flood of Modus Ventures.

He is also exploring the possibility of launching TheHut.com concessions within some of Modus’s shopping centres. The terminals would offer shoppers items at cheaper rates than neighbours, he said, as they would operate on lower overheads. It would do deals for smaller, empty units and place terminals within window spaces. The units would not need to be staffed, he argues, and window space could be sold to third party advertisers. He estimates that a small unit with a cheap fit-out would cost around £200,000 — half of which could be recouped on selling window space.

“If we don’t sell a thing, having that level of brand awareness could help towards lifting our online sales,” he said. “And if it’s crap, we could just drop it. We’re not ashamed to admit if something’s wrong. The worst that can happen is someone pees on my computer screens.”

Richard Faulkner, an area director with Bank of Scotland, which is not a lender to the company, said Moulding’s growth plans were “impressive, particularly in the light of the current retail environment”.

Now in its seventh year, the annual league table ranks Britain’s one hundred fastest growing, private technology companies by their sales growth over a two-year period, according to their latest available accounts. The majority (75) of companies on the table were in profit.

Seven businesses in the region (compared with 11 last year) have won places on this year’s listing. Each of these companies has made a substantial contribution to the local economy. Together they employ 878 staff and have racked up combined sales of £84m.

Based in Northwich, Cheshire, TheHut.com have run their own website selling home entertainment products, such as books, DVDs and games. Founded only three years ago by Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore, the company’s sales soared an average of 187% a year from £692,000 in 2005 to £5.7m in 2007.

Now in its seventh year, the annual league table ranks Britain’s one hundred fastest-
growing, private technology companies by their sales growth over a two-year period,
according to their latest available accounts. The majority (75) of companies on the table
were in profit.

Seven businesses in the region (compared with 11 last year) have won places on this
year’s listing. Each of these companies has made a substantial contribution to the local
economy. Together they employ 878 staff and have racked up combined sales of £84m.

Based in Northwich, Cheshire, TheHut.com (No 18) runs its own website selling
home entertainment products, such as books, DVDs and games. Founded only three
years ago by Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore, the company’s sales soared an
average of 187% a year from £692,000 in 2005 to £5.7m in 2007.