Otrium to relaunch in UK after strengthening operations

Otrium, an online designer outlet, has announced its relaunch in the UK, a market it had exited in 2023 in a bid to refocus on the EU. The Dutch e-tailer revealed the news on LinkedIn, where it said it was returning with more brands, such as AllSaints, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

The decision to relaunch its operations comes on the back of the company strengthening its “operational backbone”, the post noted. Otrium will serve the UK market from its Dutch flagship warehouse in Almelo, the Netherlands, where it said it has improved its set-up “for a more efficient customs and duties process”.

Up until 2023, Otrium had primarily been operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the UK and the UK, while it had also owned warehouses in the Netherlands, the UK and the US. The company had ultimately opted to shutter its US and UK markets, to “focus on its successful EU home market”, a note in its 2024 Modern Slavery statement revealed.

With this, Otrium also then shuttered its UK warehouse in the same year, and later its US warehouse in 2024. The departure from the US came just two years into its initial launch in the region. Otrium revealed that it was selling its US arm to Rue Gilt Groupe, a shift that coincided with the departure of CEO, Zuhairah Washington, who said that under new leadership it would have a "strategic focus on the European market and profit targets from now on”.

Launched in 2015 by entrepreneur duo Milan Daniels and Max Klijnstra, Ortium has established itself as a marketplace for brands to sell their unsold inventory at lower prices. In 2020, the company secured a 24 million euro financing round, onboarding Asos and Farfetch as investors and helping it to initiate expansions into new markets, including the UK.