M and M Direct

MandMDirect
Private
Industry Clothing Retail
Founded 1987
Headquarters Leominster, United Kingdom
Key people
 Mike Tomkins, Chairman
Number of employees
 470
Website www.mandmdirect.com

MandM Direct is an online clothing store in the United Kingdom. It sells its products over the internet and is the second largest online fashion retailer in the UK [1] Its catalogue is distributed quarterly. It specialises in buying clearance stock from manufacturers and selling at discounted prices. MandM Direct has over 1 million active customers and its website gets over 21 million visits every year. MandM Direct stocks nearly 200 brands including, Adidas, Bench, Henleys, Timberland, Diesel and Puma.[2]

History

Logo used from 2006-2015

The company was started as M and M Sports in 1987 when Mark Ellis and Martin Churchward were introduced by their Nike representative Ken Mallender. The two founders started their careers with retail shops in Hereford and Stourbridge and joined forces to buy end-of-line clearance sports products.

The success of this led the pair to venture off into off-page advertising, with the first advert appearing in SHOOT magazine in 1987. National press adverts followed in 1990 specifically offering clothing and footwear. As both men lived in the area a site in Leominster was purchased and the company was born.

In 1994 the business was transferred from Stourbridge to its current base in Leominster, Herefordshire. Following a buy-out by private equity group ECI partners in 2004 the company’s identity changed to MandM Direct in order to reflect their move into selling fashion and lifestyle brands.

In 2007 US private equity group, TA Associates completed major investment and the logistics operation moved to new warehousing at Moreton-on-Lugg, Herefordshire. 2009 saw expansion into Europe which led to German language and later French language sites being created.[3]

The company was a back-of-the-shirt sponsor for Hereford United.

Location

The company headquarters is in Leominster, Herefordshire, with the main warehouse facility being based at Moreton-on-Lugg just off the A49.[4]

Brands

References

  1. ↑ Marcus Leroux. "MandM prepares for German expansion", The Times, 18 January 2010.
  2. ↑ Neil Craven. "ONLINE STORE IS ALL THE FASHION IN A DOWNTURN", Mail On Sunday, 6 June 2009.
  3. ↑ Direct Commerce "News Roundup", 2 July 2010
  4. ↑ "M&M's massive investment is a vote of confidence in county". Hereford Times. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
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