New warehouse deal boosts Huddled Group’s ecommerce ambitions
Huddled Group, the AIM listed ecommerce business expects to chalk up sales of £5.2m in the first half of 2024.
The business, run by Lancaster-born entrepreneur Martin Higginson, is continuing to invest and look for new acquisition opportunities and has agreed “in principle” additional space at their current warehouse in Leigh which will double its existing capacity to fulfil orders for both Food Circle Supermarket and Boop Beauty from the same fulfilment centre, helping deliver further synergies and cost savings, as well as allowing increasing the quantity of orders for Discount Dragon.
Higginson said: “It is apparent to us that our business model, centred around helping suppliers effectively manage their surplus stock by buying products often destined for waste at a significant discount to their retail value and offering these goods to customers at heavily discounted prices, is highly relevant.
“Food Circle Supermarket has been a welcome addition to the Huddled family, and we are formulating an exciting growth plan including the rebrand to Nutricircle in August. We believe Boop will follow a similar pattern following its re-launch in September. We believe, having tested the offering within Discount Dragon, that there is demand for discounted cosmetics and perfumes.
“We continue to invest for growth, predominantly in customer acquisition marketing, but also in improving the performance of our websites and we have made some tactical hires to support these initiatives.”
Discount Dragon
Discount Dragon has increased its revenue by 30% and added circa 20,900 new customers in Q2 2024.
Monthly revenue from Discount Dragon surpassed the £1m mark in June 2024, with over £750,000 coming from returning customers.
As part of an evolving customer acquisition strategy, Discount Dragon is midway through a two-week trial of TV and radio advertisements, consisting of regional tests on ITV1 and radio advertising spots on Heart and LBC.
Food Circle Supermarket is to be rebranded to Nutricircle in August 2024, it added 3,027 new customers between 12 April and 30 June 2024.
Following the investment into Boop Beauty announced on 8 July 2024, the business is currently offline and is due to be relaunched in September 2024.
The company said: “We intend to build on the proposition and brand, delivering surplus quality cosmetic brands at value-driven pricing. We have been pleased by the reception from the beauty industry and press to the deal and look forward to offering previous and new customers cosmetics at value when the site re-launches.”
