Entertainment Magpie spreads its wings and eyes £100m turnover

AWARD winning technology company Entertainment Magpie is spreading its wings with new product offerings and a launch in the US.

The fast-growing LDC-backed company hopes widening its range to include consumer electronic devices such as laptops, games consoles iPods, iPads, tablets, games consoles and even hair straighteners will take revenues to £100m by next year.

In terms of geography it is opening a base in Atlanta – its first beyond these shores.

Already serving more than seven million customers in 160 countries Macclesfield-based Entertainment Magpie aims to be a global leader in “recommerce” – re-selling unwanted items

Co-founder and chief executive Steve Oliver said: “Our latest research, which involved over 40,000 of our customers, revealed that they trusted the brand and loved the service so much that they wanted to be able to sell a wider range of their unwanted items in one go.

“In response to this we’ve leveraged our bespoke technology and logistics to offer customers more opportunity to derive greater value from a single online, or mobile transaction.

“Our recommerce strategy will enable customers to sell a host of household goods quickly, easily and in one box, through musicMagpie.”

Commenting on the US venture, Mr Oliver said: “We’re really excited about the prospects there – the US has six times the population and there is no comparable competitor there.

“It’s a really big opportunity – we’re just setting up the warehouse and the site will be live after the presidential elections – which mean we’ll be able to buy some time to advertise it.” 

Retail veteran and chairman Allan Leighton, added: “In the current financial year we will have more than doubled our turnover from £31m to over £65m and are planning to achieve £100m of turnover by the end of the 2012-2013 financial year.

“I expect the next year to yield even greater successes, as musicMagpie continues to evolve its technology and grow its unique consumer proposition.”

Products the company buys from customers are reconditioned, repackaged and resold through a variety of channels, online or through a chain of That’s Entertainment shops.

Customers can chose to keep the cash they make, or donate it to charity or other good causes.

Entertainment Magpie was recently rated as one of the country’s 10 fastest-growing technology businesses in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100
league table. It has 1.5 million users in the UK.