Boohoo Surges As Sale Speculation Mounts

UPDATE: See our review of the Boohoo.com business, out on Wednesday November 13


Pureplay fashion etailer Boohoo.com has seen traffic to its site surge 22 per cent amid speculation its founders may be looking to sell some or all of the business.

The September figures produced for Drapers magazine Ecomm Index by Kantar Media show the Manchester-based site received 791,000 unique visitors during the month.

The surge is yet more proof of the site's success amid rumours we are hearing that it's founders have visited London canvassing possible City advisers in recent months - something they would only do if they were planning to raise funds or even attempt an IPO.

The traffic volumes meant Boohoo.com ranked fourth in the month behind Very.co.uk, where unique visitors rose 1 per cent to 801,000, eBay's fashion business, which increased 3 per cent to 843,000 and Asos, with a rise of 6 per cent to 1,648,000.

Among the high street retailers, New Look was again a strong performer following last month's gains that found it ahead of Asos and Next.

The latest figures show that New Look gained 18 per cent to attract 1,814,000 unique visitors putting it ahead of Asos, Next (a 1 per cent rise to 1,645,00) and Debenhams in fourth overall place with 1,565,000.

Clearly, the increase of visitors at any site does not necessarily correlate directly to sales. Next said on Wednesday that Directory sales in the three months to October increased 10.7 per cent.

However, traffic must always be good news even if they don't actually buy your product. Interestingly Bhs saw a surprise surge in traffic of 60 per cent to 478,000.

But among the worst performers was Marks & Spencer which is relying in part on internet sales to help it lift revenue and profit. Total traffic fell 11 per cent to 1,047,000. It expects to move its entire platform away from its partnership with Amazon to its own systems next year. John Lewis, although never as reliant on clothing, also saw a dip with its fashion traffic falling 10 per cent to 527,000.