Published
Feb 9, 2021
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Joules buys Garden Trading to broaden product offer and customer base

Published
Feb 9, 2021

Joules said on Tuesday that it has acquired The Garden Trading Company Limited, a digitally-led retailer of home and garden products “inspired by the British countryside and lifestyle trends”.


Joules


While the acquisition is outside of the company's core clothing and accessories categories, it's an important move as it embeds the Joules eco-system further in the lifestyles of its customers and attracts a new customer base, key aims of the business overall.

Garden Trading designs its own range of home, garden and outdoor products via its own digital platform direct to consumers and to more than 1,000 stockists across the UK. It has seen rapid growth in its e-commerce revenue over recent years as it has broadened its product range and increased its customer base. 

Importantly too, it’s been a leading seller on the Friends of Joules digital marketplace since the marketplace’s debut in 2019.

Joules said the roughly £12.5 million buy would support its strategy to grow its customer base, broaden its product offer and strengthen its digital platform. The home, garden and outdoor category is one of the fastest growing in the UK and has seen particular acceleration during lockdowns in the past year. 

The company also said Garden Trading “has a close cultural alignment with Joules, and both share the same design-led approach to creating distinctive, quality products that are loved by their customers”. 

The company will retain Garden Trading as a distinct brand and aims to grow it from here, adding to its product offer while leveraging Garden Trading's “design and sourcing strengths to develop a broader range of Joules-branded home, garden and outdoor products”. Founder and MD Jon Holloway will remain with the business until the end of December 2021.

The new acquisition saw revenue up over 40% to £16.8 million in the year to November 2020 with pre-tax profit of £2 million.

Joules CEO Nick Jones said the acquisition “will help to increase the Joules customer base, broaden our product offering and strengthen our digital platform, which are three of the group's key strategic growth pillars”.

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