Boohoo’s Carol Kane: We want to be the Inditex of etail

Speaking at the Delivery Conference 2017, Kane said: “We haven’t got an active mergers and acquisitions strategy, we just look at what comes our way. Our strategy would really be very similar to Inditex.”

She added that Inditex dominated the Spanish high street with multiple brands and that Boohoo wanted to emulate that approach in British etail, killing off its competition for the 16-24 millennial market.

She added that she was “so pleased” that Boohoo launched at the time it did.

“Some of the high street retailers were a bit late to the party and that has enabled us to cut through quite quickly,” she said.

“Part of the growth we are seeing is a result of an organic shift, with people getting more comfortable with shopping online.

Kane addressed the pace of change in etail, terming it “crazy”.

“It’s no mean feat but it’s what we’re about,” she said.

“In ecommerce there is a demand for newness and freshness. There is a market for freshness – we have moved on from what was fashionable last week.”

She added that she believed that US fashion retail found overseas success tough due to its conservative approach to style.

“The US players often have quite conservative signature styles,” she said. “European style is about what is happening now and it means we have an appetite for the new.

“You can’t walk down a British high street without applauding our European players, Inditex and H&M, they are really dominating.”

Dispatches allegations

Kane neglected to mention the recent investigation into British supply chains by Channel 4 documentary series Dispatches, which alleged that factories which supplied retailers Boohoo, New Look and River Island were underpaying and mistreating employees.

Boohoo issued a formal statement on the allegations yesterday.

It said: “We want to stress that although we have experienced rapid growth in the past few years, the wellbeing of our employees has remained one of our top priorities.

“We recognise that we don’t always get everything right first time; however, we have a number of policies and procedures in place to protect our people and we work hard to ensure that high standards are met.

“We are not a faceless giant of an employer, the Boohoo family is one that looks to engage with and invest in our team.

“We recognise that there are always improvements that can be made and we will continue to work hard to ensure that we are doing all we can to protect our employees across the business.”