Higginson’s Huddled Acquires Beauty E-Commerce Business

Huddled Group, the e-commerce group led by entrepreneur Martin Higginson, has acquired a controlling 75% stake in Boop Beauty Limited, an e-commerce company specialising in the sale of surplus beauty and cosmetics products.

The investment, described in a stock exchange statement today as a “modest sum”, is another step in Higginson’s strategy to build a portfolio of e-commerce brands using its warehouse space and fulfilment services in Leigh.

The Boop Beauty online store has been taken offline to integrate with the Huddled group, with a relaunch scheduled for early September 2024.

It will work with Discount Dragon, which sells surplus consumer products, and Nutricircle, which was acquired and renamed Food Circle Supermarket in April 2024.

Following the completion of the transaction, the Company will have access to additional working capital, which will allow it to purchase a wider and broader range of relevant inventory, as well as a broader range of faster-selling items, and to increase marketing efforts aimed at acquiring new customers.

Boop Beauty was founded by former L’Oreal lawyer Yasmine Amr. The company sells directly to consumers online, specializing in surplus beauty products, including Aromatherapy Associates, Foreo and Legology.

With limited capital, Boop fulfilled 558 orders in Q2 2024, with an average order value of around £39.

Yasmine Amr will remain with the company as both a shareholder and non-executive director. She said: “More than $4.8 billion worth of beauty products are wasted globally every year, much of it due to overproduction. Boop set out to address this serious problem and a growing number of brands have already adopted the concept. Huddled’s investment will allow me to accelerate the vision I have for Boop – I look forward to working with the Huddled team to grow the business.”

Higginson added: “The Boop business concept is fantastic and fits perfectly with Huddled’s circular economy strategy. It was clear that Huddled could provide Boop with several key ingredients – more inventory, marketing and fulfilment – ​​to drive growth.

“I am confident that with the resources and support of Huddled Group, Boop can grow and become a trusted and ethical partner for beauty companies in solving their excess inventory challenges.”

After Lancaster-born Higginson sold Location Based Entertainment VR (LBE) and Uvisan for £19m and returned the cash to shareholders, he retained the stock market float, renamed the company Huddled and is now building a suite of e-commerce businesses that use data analytics for marketing and inventory control purposes.

In September 2023, Huddled acquired Leigh-based Discount Dragon for £4m, integrating The Beer Monster brand as part of a strategy to create a portfolio of e-commerce brands.

The company’s core business is Discount Dragon, which sells branded dry and canned food and beverages at deep discounts to supermarkets.

IN Rainmakers Platform Interview, Higginson said he believes running a business as a publicly traded e-commerce company has more upside than downside.