Boohoo, the British online clothing retailer, today announced that it has acquired the Debenhams brand for £55 million.
Boohoo said it was a “transformation deal” by making it an exclusively online business, which will not include the remaining 118 shops of the 242-year-old Debenhams company, putting nearly 12,000 jobs at risk.
Boohoo’s founder, Mahmud Kamani, said: “This is a transformational deal for the Group, which allows us to capture the fantastic opportunity as eCommerce continues to grow.
Our ambition is to create the UK’s largest marketplace. Our acquisition of the Debenhams brand is strategically significant as it represents a huge step which accelerates our ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion eCommerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport and homeware”.
Recently, the reputation of fashion retailer Boohoo had been severely damaged following revelations that its suppliers were using sweatshops in Leicester to produce cheap clothes but this did not stop the brand from increasing its profit during the pandemic – its revenues jumped by 40% to £660.8 million and profits climbed to £68.1 million.
On the other hand, the Boohoo brand’s ambition to become the leader in fashion e-commerce will most likely impacted by its direct competitor ASOS who are in exclusive talks with Arcadia‘s directors regarding the acquisition of Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT.
Get a feel for the Boohoo look via some of their previous collection pieces below:
#Peace.Love.Boohoo
