THG Ingenuity, the technology services division of THG, today announces the signing of major partnership agreements with global beauty brands Elemis, PZ Cussons Beauty, Burt’s Bees, Nuxe, By Terry and Revolution Beauty, as part of the wider beauty portfolio of clients, collectively worth more than £100 million.
Through the partnerships, THG Ingenuity will accelerate each brand’s transition towards a direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) model to meet the growing online consumer demand. The agreements are also testament to THG Ingenuity’s ability to deliver this digital transformation across all touchpoints of the consumer journey effectively.
- Elemis – THG will launch Elemis through localised DTC offerings across 15 territories in Europe and Asia over the next 12 months. Elemis will leverage THG’s localisation expertise and global distribution centres in the UK, Poland, Australia and Singapore for greater fulfilment efficiencies and to offer shorter delivery times and more relevant shopping experiences to their customers;
- PZ Cussons Beauty – The partnership will see THG Ingenuity facilitate its shift to DTC ecommerce at pace, with the launch of three of their consumer brands, St Tropez, Sanctuary Spa and Fudge professional, in under six weeks;
- Burt’s Bees – THG will initiate the European site roll-out for Burt’s Bees, the natural skincare brand, which commenced with the UK site launch in May 2020. THG’s offering includes its trading & performance marketing analytics to optimise performance which has led to a fast start with website performance trading at +146% revenue vs the initial target of 60% organic growth;
- Nuxe - The brand is about to launch its global DTC online business with THG Ingenuity in the USA, complemented by a JBP for THG Ingenuity’s own reseller sites Skinstore and Lookfantastic. The next phase of the partnership will see further sites rolled out across America and Asia Pacific.
- Revolution Beauty – Initially delivering a DTC online business for the US and Australia in 2020, THG will complement the British beauty brand’s existing ecommerce offering and enable it to enter new markets. The partnership reflects the growing number of established brands that are benefitting from THG’s international infrastructure and local knowledge of global territories to expand their presence.
- By Terry – THG Ingenuity is partnering with the French firm on a new brand launch across all end-to-end services. This will include brand development and strategy, content and packaging, DTC and managed services in trade and performance marketing.
Each brand will access THG Ingenuity’s full range of ecommerce solutions, from its end-to-end, proprietary DTC technology platform to its international fulfilment and payments infrastructure complemented by further global solutions across hosting, translations, brand development and creative content. Crucially, the brands will have access to, and full ownership of, an exhaustive pool of data that underpins all of THG Ingenuity’s operations, led by its data analytics division.
THG Ingenuity offers its partners a long pipeline of innovation, empowering them to stay ahead of the curve as the retail landscape continues to evolve. Beauty-industry players specifically will need to lean on innovative tools to capture and convert the attention of existing and new customers in the coming years. THG Ingenuity is constantly developing these tools, having recently filed a patent for its Foundation Finder Technology, which allows consumers to colour-match from home using THG’s own colour card, machine learning and computer vision technology. This is one example of how partners can benefit from its technology roadmap.
Matthew Moulding, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of THG, said: “The consumer shift to online continues at pace and a resilient, world class, DTC operation has become a necessity for brands to generate sustainable long-term growth. Through THG Ingenuity’s proprietary technology, brands can leverage our end-to-end capabilities to launch, market and fulfil their product offering at pace and accelerate their international expansion.
“The latest partnership agreements with some of the leading international beauty brands are a testament to the strength of THG Ingenuity’s proven technology services.”
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
The Hut Group (THG): Viki Tahmasebi, viki.tahmasebi@thg.com, 07966 028340
Notes to Editors
About The Hut Group
The Hut Group (THG) is an international online retailer and technology company. Founded in 2004 by CEO Matthew Moulding, Manchester-based THG now operates 178 localised websites, retailing goods in 169 countries. In the year to 31 December 2019, the Group grew sales by 24% to £1.14bn, with 66% of sales generated internationally. More than half of THG’s sales come from its own brand products. THG owns Lookfantastic and Myprotein amongst other brands operating primarily in the beauty and wellbeing sector.
About THG Ingenuity
THG Ingenuity is THG’s end-to-end ecommerce platform, powering THG’s own business as well as those of brands and retailers around the world. THG Ingenuity comprises access to THG’s international infrastructure across warehouse fulfilment, digital content studios and event spaces, an end-to-end proprietary software solution required to operate and scale retail brands, and a suite of in-house consultative and management services across trading, marketing and brand strategy. It is one of the only platforms that is underpinned by proven expertise as it has demonstrably scaled brands globally and now powers 3rdparty brands on a SAAS basis.
THG Ingenuity is partnered with leading retailers across the globe, including Johnson & Johnson, Groupe L’Occitane, PZ Cussons Beauty and Nintendo. THG Ingenuity helped the Group dispatch over 80 million items during the year ended 31 December 2019 to customers across the world and saw THG reach the top of the Sunday Times profit track for two consecutive years.
Talent
The Hut Group is the #1 place for ambitious young talent. By the end of 2019, THG employed over 7,000 people, more than double compared to 2016, with 1,500 jobs created in 2019.