Not on The High Street is founded

Not on the high street was co-founded in 2006 by British female entrepreneurs Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish to help people find unique, personalised gifts and inspire people about home decor, fashion and jewellery.

Notonthehighstreet.com is an Etsy-style trading platform that calls itself an "alternative" shopping channel. Every product on this platform is accompanied by a story from the creator, and buyers can choose based on this. Although Notonthehighstreet.com and Etsy are similar in some functions, there is one obvious difference. Sellers on the former platform need to apply.

Unlike other e-commerce platforms, the products displayed on this platform are not determined by the merchants. Instead, after the merchants provide detailed product information, notonthehighstreet’s staff will select and review the products. Only qualified products can be displayed and sold on the website. This guarantees the quality of the products to a large extent, so it is not a simple e-commerce intermediary platform.

Description of Not on The High Street

There are more than 3,000 cooperative merchants, and the current products include interior accessories, furniture, bags, clothing, etc. The website sells more than 50,000 items every day, mainly providing an online trading platform for merchants with unique and personalized gifts. Its pages are divided into several categories, including home, women, men, children, fashion, and wedding.

Notonthehighstreet looks very professional, which is something that other craft and handmade product platforms don’t have. It also provides a great branding opportunity for sellers, as they can tell their story, explain how the product is made, and add photos to their profile.

Not on The High Street Entry Requirements and Fees

To sell products on Notonthehighstreet, sellers need to apply first. The platform has a very high threshold for sales. The application form will ask for details of the products you want to sell, and sellers need to prepare high-quality product pictures when applying.

If the seller passes the review, he or she will have to pay a one-time fee of £199, and the platform will charge a 25% commission when the product is sold.

Not on The High Street Financing

In January 2007, it received a round A investment of 1.4 million.

In August 2008, it received Series B financing.

In August 2010, notonthehighstreet received its third round of financing of $11.9 million (£7.5 million), with the funding coming from Index Ventures and Greylock Partners.

In May 2012, notonthehighstreet.com raised 10 million euros (about 80.77 million yuan) in Series D funding. The lead investor in this round of financing is Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, and previous investors Index Ventures and Greylock Partners also participated. notonthehighstreet.com said that the company will use the raised funds to expand its business scope, build its brand, and invest in technology.

In May 2015, notonthehighstreet.com received £6 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.

In April 2016, it received venture round financing from 83North.

In August 2016, it completed a £21 million ($27.5 million) Series E funding round led by German media company Burda Media Group. Existing investors include Index Ventures, Industry Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures.

References

• 1. Online shopping mall notonthehighstreet raises 10 million euros: Tencent Technology [cited on 2012-05-16T16:00:00.000Z]
• 2. British e-commerce Notonthehighstreet received $27.5 million in Series E funding: ebrun [cited on 2016-08-30T16:00:00.000Z]
• 3. To build a personalized gift trading platform, Notonthehighstreet received $15.8 million investment: 36kr [cited date 2012-05-17T16:00:00.000Z]