Ranking: The top 25 fastest-growing retailers show how we shop the ‘new normal’

At first glance, the Retail Index 2024 lists a mixed bunch. There’s a huge spread of sectors represented from fashion to forecourts, and turnover in the top 25 ranges from £12m to almost £420m.  

But as diverse as these retailers and their operations may be, on closer inspection there are far more connective threads binding them than you may think.  

This index, compiled by analysts at Oresa, ranks retailer’s two-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) based on the last three years of their sales. The retailers featured provide a good illustration of how consumers have bedded into the ‘new normal’ post-Covid, and how it’s playing out in how they work, play and spend their cash today.  

To read the full report and see the full list of fastest-growing retailers which goes up to 100, click here.

Keeping busy

The success of several retailers on the list can partly be attributed to the rise in consumer investment in their hobbies, wellbeing and other lifestyle changes.  

During lockdown, the number of consumers increasing their spend on leisure activities rocketed. According to the Office of National Statistics, in 2022, spend in sports, games, toys, gardening, and pet food had all risen and remained higher than in 2019.  

Within this index, it seems as though many retailers specialising in these areas continue to thrive which could be down to the cost-of-living crisis. According to the 2023 UK Hobbies and Interests report by Mintel, 20% of consumers said having less cash meant they would be spending more time ‘cocooning’, using their hobbies at home.  

One of the most traditional hobbies that’s seen an uptick since the pandemic is cooking, and two outdoor oven brands ranked in the top 25.

Portable oven and accessory brand Ooni racked up £208m worth of sales in its latest filing, putting it at number 14 overall. While rival brand Gozney ranks just a few places below at 17.  

The UK’s spike in pet ownership also plays out on the list. HiLife and Burns natural pet food-owner Assisi Pet Care comes in fourth with a CAGR of 137.43%, while further in the list you’ll see subscription pet care brands like Butternut Box and PetLabCo racking up millions in sales.  

While reading, cooking and going for walks consistently rank among the most popular hobbies people have taken up and maintained post-pandemic, there’s certainly spend happening in more niche hobbies too.  

Forbidden Planet, purveyors of collectibles, games and graphic novels, comes in at 23 on the list with a CAGR of 75.8% as shoppers snapped up its bestsellers like X-Men comic books and Dr Who action figures.  

Marvin’s Magic, which sells magic paraphernalia in the likes of Harrods and Hamleys as well as online, also enjoyed some rapid growth and landed at number 22 on the list with a CAGR of 76.91%. 

Sport, travel and the outdoors 

Top of the list is Manchester-based performance sportswear brand Castore, which racked up an incredible two-year CAGR of 159%, with its latest sales at the time of the data collection reaching £115m. Its latest funding round valued it at £950m.  

Castore’s rapid growth has been propelled by kit manufacturing partnerships with international sports teams in Europe – although its consumer-facing business is speeding along too.

The brand entered bricks-and-mortar retail in 2019 and has since grown its estate to 20 stores. According to co-founder Tom Beahon, although D2C is the “engine” of Castore’s growth, physical stores are a key driver of demand.  

“Not everyone is sitting on Instagram when they want to buy a product. People do like to go shopping so they can discover your brand, feel your product, and talk to a human about it,” he says.  

“The two channels augment each other. When we open a store, we can see the revenue spike online in that location. If you get the mix right, it can be a very powerful combination.”  

Castore is one of several retailers on the list illustrating shoppers’ renewed interest in outdoor pursuits and other activities that centre their physical wellbeing.  

Other players include Passenger Clothing (eight) – which makes “made to roam” activewear from recycled materials, surf brand Saltrock (56), women’s activewear brand AYBL (91) and outdoor pursuits retailer Ellis Brigham (61).  

Another leisure activity that has seen a resurgence since the pandemic, although not on the cheap side, is travel.  

Two brands in the top 25 highlight this trend most clearly. At five is the privately-owned Pelham Group which makes luggage and travel accessories for the likes of John Lewis and Next, while Harding+ takes second place on the podium behind Castore with a CAGR of 145.66%.  

Harding+ runs retail operations for global cruise liners – a holiday sector that has boomed in popularity in recent years thanks to cruise operators updating their offers to draw in younger consumers.  

“Traditionally, shopping on a ship was all about gifting,” says Harding+ head of design and development Darren Powell.  

“In this new world, it’s completely different. Cruise lines realise that retail isn’t about a gift shop anymore. It must be about enriching the experience and retail is part of the entertainment club now. We bring the dancers in to do fashion shows down the walkways and it’s all so much more fun.”

Clothes for deeper pockets 

Another area that seems to have avoided some of the cost-of-living pressure is fashion aimed at more mature age groups, particularly those with a mid-premium price point.  

Where retailers making a play for Gen Z like Asos and Boohoo have been hurt by the entry of Shein to the market, higher-end British retailers that are aiming to target older millennials and upwards have seen fantastic results.  

In menswear, this is mostly confined to formalwear retailers normalising post-pandemic such as Moss Bros (10) and Skopes (27), but in womenswear there are new players dominating the list.  

Favourite of Lady Starmer, Helen Mirren and members of the royal family, Me + Em has reached 12 with a CAGR of 93.67% and it’s poised for more growth. The retailer just opened its 12th store and first official flagship last month on Marylebone High Street and is pursuing a steady expansion plan across the US to boot.  

In a similar vein, Nobody’s Child has reached ninth place while Sosandar and more value-focussed fashion brand Apricot appear on the list at 16 and 19 respectively – all primarily targeting women aged 30 and above.  

This could partly be down to a phenomenon explored by The Wall Street Journal, which looked at how a more formal take on workwear was redefining how women dressed for the office – and although working from home had made women embrace loungewear more than ever before, more were rejecting casual and going more formal for their two to three days spent in the office each week.  

But will this trend ease off if, like we’re seeing in retail headquarters, more workers are being asked to spend five days a week in the office? 

Just when we think we’ve got the ‘new normal’ down, it morphs into something else entirely.

Methodology: The Interpath Retail Index ranks retailers based on a 2 year Compound Annual Growth Rate based on turnover over three years of accounts.