Debenhams Launches Mirakl-Powered Marketplace to Become UK’s Largest Marketplace Across Fashion, Beauty, Sport and Homeware
New marketplace enables Debenhams to meet evolving customer demand, rapidly scaling assortment to more than 70,000 new products in 3 months_._
London, (5 October 2021) – Mirakl, the industry’s first and most advanced enterprise marketplace SaaS platform, and the boohoo group, leading online fashion retailer, today announced the launch of the Debenhams online marketplace. The marketplace allows Debenhams, leading UK fashion and beauty retailer, to evolve into a new era of digital commerce and respond to changing customer demand by rapidly growing its product offering while staying true to the Debenhams brand.
Debenhams already has 300 million UK website visits per year, is positioned as the number two retailer of skincare products in the UK, and has the largest market share in make-up products. With the launch of the marketplace, Debenhams will build on this strong online presence to cater to the new and ever-growing demands of today’s consumer, who looks to find everything they need via a one-stop online shop.
Through the Debenhams marketplace, the ambition is to create the UK’s largest marketplace across fashion, beauty, sport and homeware. By leveraging the Mirakl Marketplace Platform, Debenhams can quickly onboard new brands, as well as maintain and extend both existing boohoo and Debenhams brand relationships. Mirakl’s marketplace expertise and leading technology enabled the launch of the Debenhams marketplace in only 3 months. Debenhams has also already made around 200 new brands available through the new marketplace, and new suppliers and brands are joining weekly.
Jo Graham, Chief Information Officer, boohoo group, commented, “With the launch of this marketplace, we are evolving the Debenhams brand to stay ahead of the demands of the current digital-first world of commerce. Our partnership with Mirakl is critical to this evolution. With its unmatched technology, expertise, and seller ecosystem, Mirakl is supporting us to drive forward Debenhams’ digital transformation while ensuring we maintain the iconic brand that customers have come to love since its creation over 240 years ago.”
Mirakl continues to drive marketplace momentum in the UK, with more B2C and B2B organizations tapping into the huge potential of the model, including Decathlon UK, Feelunique, Harvey Nichols, H&M Home, Joules, and Turner Price. Underlining this increase in the adoption of the marketplace model, the 2021 Enterprise Marketplace Index shows that marketplaces grew by more than 80 percent year-over-year in 2020, more than double the rate of overall eCommerce growth.
“In creating an online marketplace, Debenhams is able to transform the way it reaches and engages with both existing customers and a new customer base of digital native shoppers by providing a one-stop online shop,” said Adrien Nussenbaum, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Mirakl. “In order to thrive, businesses need to invest in their online platforms to help better navigate the new world of retail and remain resilient. This partnership with Debenhams is further validation of the capacity of our market-leading solution to enable UK retailers to meet changing customer demand and lead in this new digital age.”
The launch of the marketplace follows the acquisition of Debenhams by the boohoo group in January of this year. The boohoo group has a strong track record of using its expertise in online sales strategies to revitalize heritage brands and help them thrive in the new era of eCommerce.
The acquisition is an important development for the boohoo group, as it seeks to capture incremental growth opportunities arising from the accelerating shift to online retail. The marketplace represents a strategic opportunity to transform the boohoo group’s target addressable market through the creation of an online marketplace that leverages Debenhams’ high brand awareness and existing traffic. It will accelerate the boohoo group’s ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion eCommerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport and homeware.
To learn more about the Mirakl Marketplace Platform for B2C digital transformation, visit www.mirakl.com/mirakl-b2c-marketplace-platform/
About Mirakl
Mirakl offers the industry’s first and most advanced enterprise marketplace SaaS platform. With Mirakl, organizations across B2B and B2C industries can launch marketplaces faster, grow bigger, and operate with confidence as they exceed rising customer expectations. Platforms are the new competitive advantage in eCommerce, and the world’s most trusted brands choose Mirakl for its comprehensive solution of technology, expertise, and the Mirakl Connect ecosystem to unlock the power of the platform business model for them. As a result, companies like ABB, Astore by AccorHotels, Best Buy Canada, Carrefour, Catch, Changi Airport, Darty, Feelunique, Decathlon, The Kroger Co., Leroy Merlin, Maisons du Monde, Metro, and Toyota Material Handling gain the speed, scale, and agility to win in the changing eCommerce landscape. For more information: www.mirakl.com.
About boohoo group plc
“Leading the fashion eCommerce market”
Founded in Manchester in 2006, boohoo is an inclusive and innovative global brand targeting young, value-orientated customers, pushing boundaries to bring its customers up-to-date and inspirational fashion, 24/7.
In 2017, the group extended its customer offering through the acquisitions of the vibrant fashion brand PrettyLittleThing and free-thinking brand Nasty Gal. In March 2019, the group acquired the MissPap brand, in August 2019 the Karen Millen and Coast brands and in June 2020 the Warehouse and Oasis brands, all complementary to the group’s scalable, multi-brand platform. In January 2021, the group acquired the intellectual property assets of Debenhams, with the goal of transforming a leading UK fashion and beauty retailer into a digital department store and marketplace through a new capital-light and low-risk operating model. In February 2021, the group acquired the intellectual property assets of UK brands Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton. As at 28 February 2021, the boohoo group had 18 million active customers across all its brands around the world.
Media contacts
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