Baugur to launch high street e-commerce platform

Retail conglomerate Baugur is preparing to launch an e-commerce platform for both its own high street brands and those of entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter.

Baugur, which acquired House of Fraser last November, is believed to have set a target for the new platform to contribute 10% of group sales by 2009.

The privately owned company has controlling stakes in All Saints, Hamleys, Iceland, Jane Norman, Mosaic Fashions, Mappin & Webb and MK One. Hunter owns D2, Office, Qube and USC.

Baugur also has stakes in other retailers, such as Woolworth, which recently installed an e-commerce system from software supplier ATG.

The CEO of the online retailers’ trade body IMRG, James Roper, said, “You would be mad to build your own because it would take you years to do and you would never catch up.

“Much harder is getting the human resource needed to do this properly. The talent is not out there. The people who have any experience in this marketplace have all been snapped up and locked in with a stakeholding.”

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