From Boohoo snapping up Karen Millen to Sports Direct rescuing Jack Wills, a spate of acquisitions is changing the make-up of UK fashion retail.
When browsing the latest collections online or trying on clothes on the high street, the average shopper is unlikely to pay much attention to who owns their favourite fashion brands. But there has been a lot going on behind the scenes in retail in recent months.
The reasons one retailer might acquire another are myriad and vary from business to business. An acquisition can grant access to a new store portfolio, a foot in a new market, a new consumer group, or complementary technology and logistics systems. But there is something these recent acquisitions all have in common: they speak volumes about the ways in which online and bricks-and-mortar retail are evolving.
Boohoo Group PLC (LON:BOO) operates as an online fashion retailer in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company also provides its products under the boohoo, boohooMAN, PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal & Miss Pap brand names.
