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The Hut Group
THG plc, formerly The Hut Group, is a British e-commerce retail company headquartered in Manchester, England. It sells own-brand and third-party cosmetics and dietary supplements online. In January 2025, it demerged its technology and logistics arm, Ingenuity, into a separately owned stand alone business. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded in Manchester in 2004 with a £500,000 investment by Matt Moulding and John Gallemore. The company sold CDs and DVDs online before creating white-label web stores for large physical retailers, including Asda, Argos Entertainment, Tesco and WHSmith. It operated a warehouse in Guernsey, allowing customers to avoid paying VAT on items priced below £18. The creation of the iPhone in 2007 undermined this business model and The Hut Group began acquiring internet retailers and moving them into the group's existing systems and warehouses. The company purchased Zavvi in 2009, Lookfantastic in 2010 and Myp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warrington
Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east of Liverpool and the same distance west of Manchester. The population in 2021 was recorded as 174,970 for the built-up area and 210,900 for the wider borough, the latter being more than double that of 1968 when it became a New towns in the United Kingdom, new town. Warrington is the largest town in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. Warrington was founded by the Roman Britain, Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxons, Saxon Wærings. By the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time. The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
E-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is the largest sector of the electronics industry and is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry. Defining e-commerce The term was coined and first employed by Robert Jacobson, Principal Consultant to the California State Assembly's Utilities & Commerce Committee, in the title and text of California's Electronic Commerce Act, carried by the late Committee Chairwoman Gwen Moore (D-L.A.) and enacted in 1984. E-commerce typically uses the web for at least a part of a transacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zavvi
Zavvi was a British music and entertainment retailer, founded in September 2007 by Simon Douglas and Steve Peckham purchasing and renaming the UK division of Virgin Megastores. In December 2008, the retailer entered administration, and the final stores closed down in February 2009. History In September 2007, it was announced that the UK arm of the Virgin Megastores brand was to break away from the Virgin Group. A management buyout offer was led by managing director, Simon Douglas, and finance director, Steve Peckham, reportedly for just £1. Zavvi became the largest independent entertainment retailer in the UK. All 125 stores traded under the Zavvi brand, although some stores retained an individual Virgin Media concession that operated independently from the Zavvi store. In October 2007, the company updated its logo to feature a ''Z'' in the dot of the i. Zavvi Ireland had made a loss of €3.4 million in the year ending March 2007. In September 2007, Douglas announced that Za ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at Macworld 2007, and launched later that year. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS versions; the most recent models being the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, alongside the higher-end iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, and the lower-end iPhone 16e (which replaces the iPhone SE). As of January 1, 2024, more than 2.3 billion iPhones have been sold, making Apple the largest vendor of mobile phones in 2023. The original iPhone was the first mobile phone to use multi-touch technology. Throughout its history, the iPhone has gained larger, higher-resolution displays, video-recording functionality, waterproofing, and many accessibility features. Up to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhones had a single button on the front pane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VAT-free Imports From The Channel Islands
VAT-free imports from the Channel Islands to the United Kingdom took place for a few years during the early 21st century as a result of low-value consignment relief (LVCR). This is a tax relief that applies to low-valued imports to the European Union, exempting them from value-added tax (VAT). Although the UK was a part of the EU from 1973 until Brexit in 2020, the Channel Islands (two Crown Dependencies) were not and, unlike the UK, they did not charge VAT on purchases. The UK government applied LVCR to imports from the Channel Islands, resulting in the construction of distribution centres on the islands and the export of many low-valued goods from there to the UK. The practice was unilaterally brought to an end in April 2012 by HM Treasury, the finance department of the UK government. Background Low-value consignment relief When goods are imported into the EU from a non-EU territory, they are generally subject to VAT. (The VAT rate in the UK for most goods has been 20% since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guernsey
Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited islands – Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Lihou and Sark – and many small islets and rocks. The bailiwick has a population of 63,950, the vast majority of whom live on Guernsey, and the island has a land area of . Guernsey was part of the Duchy of Normandy until 1204, when the Channel Islands remained loyal to the English crown, splitting from mainland Normandy. In 1290, the Channel Islands were divided administratively and Guernsey became part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. During the World War II, Second World War, Guernsey was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. After five years of occupation, the island was liberated on 9 May 1945, that date being celebrated annually as Liberation Day. Guernsey is administered as part of the Bailiwick of Gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WHSmith
WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery. The company was formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London. It remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other markets. Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core retail business. It was responsible for the creation of the ISBN book identifier. The company reached an agreement in 2025 to sell its high street store business to Modella Capital. Upon completion of the sale, that business will be renamed TGJones. WHSmith is listed on the Lond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in Hackney, London, in 1919. In 2011, it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the Retail#Global top ten retailers, ninth-largest in the world measured by revenues. It is the market leader of groceries in the UK (where it has a market share of around 28.4%). As well as the United Kingdom, Tesco has stores in Czechia, Ireland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Since the 1960s, Tesco has Diversification (marketing strategy), diversified into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing, electronics, furniture, toys, petrol, software, financial services, telecommunications and internet services. In the 1990s, Tesco re-positioned itself from being a downmarket high-volume low-cost retailer, attempting to attract a ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argos (retailer)
Argos Limited is a British retailer operating in the United Kingdom online and through catalogues, and formerly in Ireland; it was acquired by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ... in 2016. It was established in November 1972 and is named after the Greek city of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos. The company trades both through physical shops and online, with 29 million yearly shop transactions, and nearly 1 billion online visits per annum. It has also franchised overseas to countries such as China. History The company was founded by Richard Tompkins, who had previously established Green Shield Stamps in the United Kingdom. He came up with the idea that people could purchase goods from his "Green Shield Gift House" with cash rather ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asda
Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI (retailer), MFI. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place. As of January 2025 its market share in the UK is 12.6 per cent. Besides its core supermarkets, the company also acts as a White-label product, white label payment card provider offering assistance for insurance and payment services under the Asda Mon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-label Product
A white-label product is a product or service produced by one company (the producer) that other companies (the marketers) rebrand to make it appear as if they had made it. The name derives from the image of a white label on the packaging that can be filled in with the marketer's trade dress. White-label products are sold by retailers with their own trademark but the products themselves are manufactured by a third party. Common use White label production is often used for mass-produced generic products including electronics, consumer products and software packages such as DVD players, televisions, and web applications. Some companies maintain a sub-brand for their goods. For example, in the United Kingdom, the same model of DVD player may be sold by Dixons as a '' Saisho'' and by Currys as a '' Matsui'', which are brands exclusively used by those companies. Some websites use white labels to enable a successful brand to offer a service without having to invest in creating t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compact Disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of holding of uncompressed stereo audio. First released in Japan in October 1982, the CD was the second optical disc format to reach the market, following the larger LaserDisc (LD). In later years, the technology was adapted for computer data storage as CD-ROM and subsequently expanded into various writable and multimedia formats. , over 200 billion CDs (including audio CDs, CD-ROMs, and CD-Rs) had been sold worldwide. Standard CDs have a diameter of and typically hold up to 74 minutes of audio or approximately of data. This was later regularly extended to 80 minutes or by reducing the spacing between data tracks, with some discs unofficially reaching up to 99 minutes or which falls outside established specifications. Smaller variants, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
