Miinto expands into the UK

Miinto, an online fashion portal offering a dedicated full-service online sales outlet for independent fashion retailers, has launched in the UK following success in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The service, which offers indies the opportunity to

expand their online business, even if they don’t have their own transactional website, is launching with more than 350 brands from 33 boutiques, including award-winning retailer, The Dressing Room.

The aim of the collaborative project is to combine the fashion expertise of the independent boutiques with Miinto’s online expertise with regards back-end support, photographing products, marketing and customer support, in addition it also allows consumers to buy with confidence from an extensive range of menswear, womenswear, childresnwear, sportswear and accessories. For boutiques with no online presence the Miinto portal also bridges the gap, as for minimal investment in both time and money a boutique can be online with Miinto and ready to receive orders within seven days.

Based on a Danish business model established in 2009, the Miinto fashion portal is now available in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the US, and now the UK, and has plans for sites in the Netherlands, and Ireland; and it is expecting to exceed a turnover of more than 50 million Euros in 2012.

The success of the now established business model in Denmark is backed through strong figures reported from top-selling boutiques such as SportMaster, which made sales in excess of £170,000 in 2011 and Schelde, a boutique that stocks brands such as Isle Jacobsen, Just Female, Modstrom reported a total earning of £72,000 in 2011.

“E-commerce has been a big focus for our business during the past couple of years and will continue to be our drive, rather than opening more stores,” says Deryane Tadd, founder of The Dressing Room boutique, St Albans.

“Miinto offers us an extra avenue to sell our product, helping The Dressing Room reach a wider audience,” she adds.

Richard Packman MD of Miinto UK commented: “We level the playing field by sharing our knowledge of the internet and unite independent boutiques to form an on-line business that enables them to compete with the on-line giants.”