 
 |
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
notonthehighstreet.com appoints Chief Executive Officer
- Simon Belsham joins as new CEO – previous senior online retail roles at Ocado and Tesco
- notonthehighstreet.com is the UK’s largest online curated marketplace and a true British eCommerce success story
- notonthehighstreet.com champions small creative businesses across the UK and has changed the face of retail and enterprise
- The business achieved record turnover of £127m in 2014
- The marketplace is signing up new small business partners at a rate of 100 per month
[20 March 2015, London]: notonthehighstreet.com, the UK’s largest online curated marketplace, today announces the appointment of Simon Belsham as Chief Executive Officer.
Simon, a highly experienced and accomplished online retail expert, will join the company in May 2015. Simon joins from Tesco, the British multinational, where he was Managing Director of Grocery Home Shopping for Tesco.com. Simon also spent a successful period at Ocado, building its sales platform. With an entrepreneurial background and a passion for growing small businesses Simon brings a wealth of knowledge and ideas to notonthehighstreet.com.
Holly Tucker MBE, co-founder and President of notonthehighstreet.com, welcomed the appointment:
“We are thrilled that Simon has agreed to join us. He is an online retail and e-commerce expert and will bring great experience and energy to the role. When Sophie and I founded the business we wanted to help the countless, talented and creative independent designers and suppliers that we have in this country. Simon’s entrepreneurial background and commitment to SMEs will fit well with the ethos and ambitions we have developed at notonthehighstreet.com. We know the company is in the right hands to continue to change the face of UK enterprise by supporting growing small companies. I am delighted to welcome Simon to the business.”
Simon Belsham commented:
“I am very excited to be joining notonthehighstreet.com at this important stage in the company’s development. Like many others with an interest in retail and e-commerce I have watched the company’s growing success with considerable admiration and I am looking forward to joining this dynamic and pioneering company and working closely with our community of Partners. Holly Tucker MBE and Sophie Cornish MBE have built an outstanding business and I am honoured to now lead the company onto the next stage of its journey.”
The business is performing very strongly, growing at a rate of around 135%1 from its launch in 2006 to 2014. Christmas 2014 delivered 36% year-on-year sales growth2 and customers topped 3 million last year. The business has been widely recognised for its success, ranked 25th among UK’s fastest growing technology businesses (Deloitte UK Fast 50, November 2014) and placed 57th in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 (December 2014). notonthehighstreet.com also began its international expansion programme last year, launching the German .de site in September 2014.
The company champions small creative businesses, helping its sellers grow from cottage industries into multi-million-pound businesses. In 2014 alone, 11 ‘million pound partner’ businesses were created3. Since the company was launched in 2006, it has generated in excess of £300 million for its small business partners across the UK and now has over 200 team members working from its Richmond headquarters.
Sophie Cornish MBE, co-founder and Director of notonthehighstreet.com, commented:
“I’m delighted that we’re announcing Simon’s appointment as Chief Executive and to see our vision realised so fully. We know the company is in a powerful position to continue to change the face of UK retail and to provide all our customers with fantastic products and excellent service. Since we founded the business Holly and I have striven to give our customers the very best range of original and exceptional products; we’re confident the marketplace will continue to engage and delight our customers as the business flourishes."
ENDS
Contacts
notonthehighstreet.com
Nic Forster, Senior PR Manager
+44 208 614 7100
[email protected]
Maitland
Emma Burdett
James Devas
+44 207 379 5151
About Simon Belsham
Simon started his career as a consultant at Gemini (later becoming Cap Gemini). In 2003 he joined Tesco and over the next seven years (before and after business school) led a variety of projects developing the operating model for the UK business, primarily in convenience, supply chain, general merchandise and latterly online with Tesco Direct.
In 2005 Simon spent two years at Harvard completing his MBA.
Simon has a strong entrepreneurial flair and he spent 18 months at Ocado as Director of Non-Food, where he was responsible for building a general merchandise platform to link in with the Ocado home delivery network. The first website launched was the pet site, fetch.co.uk. In 2013, Simon re-joined Tesco as Managing Director of Grocery Home Shopping.
Simon himself comes from a family of entrepreneurs and he has the utmost respect for the challenges small businesses face and a greater insight than most as to what it really takes to succeed.
About notonthehighstreet.com
notonthehighstreet.com was founded by British entrepreneurs Holly Tucker MBE and Sophie Cornish MBE in 2006.
Bringing together more than 5,000 of the UK’s most creative small businesses, this unique online department store offers more than 170,000 original, inspirational lifestyle products, many of which are bespoke and made to order.
notonthehighstreet.com is changing the face of UK enterprise by supporting growing small businesses offering a route to market for designer-makers who would otherwise struggle for custom or lose out in the battle with high street giants.
The business has grown from a turnover of £134,000 in its first year to £127m in 2014 and has scooped a host of awards, most recently coming 25th in the 2014 Deloitte Fast 50 – the UK’s fastest growing technology companies. This is the third time notonthehighstreet.com has made the list following its first win in 2011, (ranked 8th) and the second in 2013 (ranked 12th).
The firm employs over 200 staff at its headquarters in Richmond Upon Thames, South West London.
notonthehighstreet.com is backed by venture capitalists Venrex Investment Management, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, Fidelity Growth Partners & Industry Ventures LLC.
End
1 Compound growth rate
2 5 weeks to 23 December 2014
3 Million pound partners are businesses who turned over £1m+ through notonthehighstreet.com alone in the previous financial year
|
|
|
