Why Pretty Little Thing is next big fashion hit
STELLAR growth at fashion website Pretty Little Thing helped Boohoo double sales.
Lucrative acquisitions and a range of celebrity collaborations also drove growth at the online retailer.
Boohoo, which snapped up Pretty Little Thing for £3.3m last year – a rival run by Umar Kamani, the son of Boohoo founder Mahmud Kamani – saw sales jump 106pc to £262.9m in the six months to the end of August. However, shares yesterday fell 15.8pc, or 40.7p, to 218p following concerns that investment was leading to lower profit margins.
Sales across Pretty Little Thing soared 289pc to £72.7m in the six-month period while Nasty Gal, an American retailer that Boohoo bought out of bankruptcy in February, reported revenue of £8.4m.
Neil Catto, chief financial officer, said that Boohoo has managed to remain ahead of its competition by ensuring that all its brands are relevant to customers.
Boohoo co-founder Carol Kane said the firm’s strategy of collaborating with popular social media figures – such as high-profile contestants from the ITV2 reality TV hit show Love Island – is working ‘across the whole brand.’