AO World

AO.com, formerly known as Appliances Online, is an online-only retailer operating in the UK (AO.com), Germany (AO.de) and the Netherlands (AO.nl). It specialises in household appliances and electricals.[2]

AO World plc
AO.com
Public limited company
Traded asLSE: AO.
ISINGB00BJTNFH41 
IndustryOnline retail
Founded2000 (2000)
FounderJohn Roberts
HeadquartersBolton, Greater Manchester
Key people
John Roberts
(Chief executive officer)
Geoff Cooper
(Chairman)
Revenue£902.5 million (2019)[1]
£(15.2) million (2019)[1]
£(17.0) million (2019)[1]
OwnerJohn Roberts (23.06%)[1]
Number of employees
3,110 (2019)[1]
SubsidiariesExpert Logistics Ltd[1]
Websitewww.ao-world.com

The company was founded in 2000 by John Roberts and the UK head office is located in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[3]

History

The company was founded under the name Appliances Online by John Roberts in 2000. Prior to this, during a conversation in a Bolton pub, a close friend bet Roberts £1 that he could not set up his own company and disrupt the white goods market by selling appliances online.[4]

As well as selling directly to consumers, the company also sold kitchen appliances on behalf of other retailers such as Next, House of Fraser, and B&Q . In 2009 the company acquired the distribution business Expert Logistics enabling end-to-end control of their operation.[5]

In 2013 Appliances Online rebranded to AO.com, which included a redesign of their logo to its current state.[6] In the same year, the company reached one million likes on Facebook[7] and aired their first television advertisement. AO.com was also presented with three awards at the 2013 Retail Week and Drapers ceremony: the Overall Award for Excellence, Best Use of Social Media and Best Pure Play Etailer .[8] They were also awarded fourth place in The Times 100 Best Mid-Size Companies to Work For award and held this position the following year.[9]

In February 2014 the company floated on the London Stock Exchange as AO World.[10] The IPO allowed the company to raise funds for European expansion[11] and AO's first overseas website, AO.de, launched in Germany later that same year. At the 2014 Retail Week Awards, AO.com won Best Customer Experience, Best use of Content and Best use of Social Media.[12]

In 2015, AO.com announced plans for their second overseas website, AO.nl[13] In the same year, a number of AO employees completed a Germany to Bolton bike ride to raise money for a new playground.[14] AO.com also took home the Employer of the Year award at Retail Week 2015.[15]

In 2016, to support its European expansion, AO opened its 84,000 square metre headquarters in Bergheim, Germany.[16] AO.com also expanded its distribution facility in Crewe with the addition of the Omega building, giving the company 740,000 square feet of warehouse space. AO.com also won the Customer Experience Initiative award at Retail Week 2016.[17]

In 2017, the company announced it would sponsor the 11th series of ITV show, Britain's Got Talent.[18] It also announced that it would extend its sponsorship with Lancashire County Cricket Club.[19] It was also reported that company founder, John Roberts would step down as CEO, remaining on the board as Founder and Executive Director. The former COO, Steve Caunce, took over as CEO.[20] In March, the company announced that it had raised £50m through share placing to support plans for further growth.[21] The retailer also announced that it was to open a state-of-the-art recycling plant in Telford, Shropshire.[22]

In January 2018, the retailer, reported that it had opened a new office in Manchester city centre, which was to be home to the business's in-house multimedia, IT and sales teams.[23] In April, the business announced that it had become one of only twenty businesses in the world to have received over 100,000 Trustpilot reviews.[24] In July, the business launched its new brand campaign, Delivering Tomorrow.[25] It was also reported that it had committed to building a second major fridge recycling facility in the south east of England.[26] The company also confirmed that it had completed the acquisition of the online phone retailer Mobile Phones Direct for £32.5 million as it looks to expand its offering in the mobile phone sector.[27]

In January 2019, it was announced that Steve Caunce would step down as CEO, John Roberts would reassume the role.[28]

The company announced it was introducing an appliance rental offer in March 2019. Working with social landlords, the first product available was a washing machine for £2 per week.[29]

AO's recycling plant in Telford processed its millionth fridge in July 2019.[30]

AO Mobile launched in August 2019, offering all UK mobile networks and all handset manufacturers. Roberts described the launch as "a game changer for mobile phone customers".[31]

In August 2019, AO launched AO Finance in partnership with consumer finance provider Newday. AO Finance offers a market-leading rolling credit facility that gives more customers access to essential products through affordable finance. [32]

In October 2019, AO's plastic plant was unveiled as the company announced its ambition to use its recycling capabilities to ultimately make new fridges from the recycled materials extracted from old ones.[33]

Announcing its interim financial results in November 2019, Roberts confirmed that AO would close its operation in the Netherlands to focus on its German business. Roberts explained that the team did not have the bandwidth to fix both markets but remained committed to future international expansion once the German model was proven.[34]

In April 2020, AO Business continued to grow and after only six months in the housebuilders sector, secured over 12,000 building plots.[35]

In July 2020, AO also announced an incentive scheme that could see staff share up to £240 million in bonuses. It said employees would take home extra pay based on how much the company's shares rise above £5.23 in price over the next five to seven years. This could be a pay-out of around one year’s salary for employees. AO’s chief executive and founder John Roberts said the 'Value Creation Plan' was a 'vote of confidence in our people' that 'rewards exceptional performance and value creation.' John Roberts committed that any money he earns from the scheme will be donated to charity to support disadvantaged young people. The scheme was due to be considered by investors at the annual general meeting at the end of August.[36]

Operations
ao.com
Type of site
E-commerce website
URLao.com
Alexa rank 31,996 (December 2013)[37]
Launched2000
Current statusActive

The company now occupies 50,000sq ft offices and is based in Bolton.[38] The company was named as 63rd in the Sunday Times 'Best Companies to Work For' list in 2011, and received the award for Best Customer Service Operation at the 2011 European Call Centre & Customer Service Awards.[39] In 2012, the company was named 5th in the Sunday Times' list,[40] and in 2013 climbed to 4th, retaining this position in 2014.[41]

In 2018, the company won UK Sales Employer and the best UK sales team, at the Institute of Sales Management BESMA Awards.[42]

In 2019, AO Tech won the Team of the Year – Large Organisations award in the Computing Rising Star Awards.[43]

Advertising

The company launched a new advertising campaign on 3 May 2013 to mark the rebrand of the business from Appliances Online to ao.com. The first advert follows a fictional new employee called ‘Dave’ and his over-enthusiastic inductor on his first day at work. A further advert was aired showing ‘Barry Catchpole’.[44] Its adverts feature a version of the Ramones song "Blitzkrieg Bop" in which the words "Hey! Ho! Let's go!" are reinterpreted as "A.O. Let's go!".[45]

In May 2020, AO launched a new advertising campaign with an advert showing how Britain’s homes were working harder than ever whilst many people were forced to stay home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The advert demonstrated the hundreds of thousands of electricals AO have in stock ready for next day delivery across the UK. [46]

gollark: Or very small computers.
gollark: I mean, if you could do that maybe you could... build machinery which assembles other quark-scale stuff, somehow.
gollark: Yes, just casually edit the strong nuclear force.
gollark: > wake me up when they finally create quark chem<@206392503509843969> IIRC you can't work with quarks on their own because they only like to exist in groups for unfathomable physics reasons.
gollark: That's just a minor engineering problem for engineers to engineer.

References
  1. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). AO World. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  2. "What We Do". AO World. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  3. "FTSE UK Index Series: Annual Review June 2020". 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  4. "AO founder claims business started as £1 pub bet". Archived from the original on 13 December 2013.
  5. "DRL acquires Expert Logistics". Ertonline.co.uk. 22 July 2009. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  6. "Appliances Online looking to diversify after 10 Associates rebrand". Prolific North. 2 September 2013.
  7. Charlton, Graham (17 May 2013). "How Appliances Online went from 2,500 to 1m Facebook fans in just two years".
  8. "In pictures: PayPal Etail Awards 2013 winners revealed". Retail Week.
  9. "AO.com named fouth best company to work for in the UK". The Bolton News. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  10. "Online Retailer World Surges on London Trading Debut". Bloomberg. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  11. Butler, Sarah (7 February 2014). "Online appliances retailer AO to float on London Stock Exchange". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  12. 2014-07-03T08:45:00. "Drapers and Retail Week PayPal Etail Awards 2014 winners revealed". Retail Week. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  13. "AO.com will launch in the Netherlands". Ecommerce News. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  14. "Bolton business to fund £70,000 playground for ill youngsters". The Bolton News. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  15. "Winners 2015". awards.retail-week.com. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  16. "Build-to-Suit for AO in Bergheim, Germany". Prologis. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  17. "2016 Winners". awards.retail-week.com. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  18. "AO.com to sponsor Britain's Got Talent after MediaCom North deal". Prolific North. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  19. Begum, Shelina (12 April 2017). "AO.com extends sponsorship with Lancashire County Cricket Club". men. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  20. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  21. Bradshaw, Julia (30 March 2017). "AO World raises £50m from share placing to drive growth plans". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  22. "AO and TRG merge to form fridge and WEEE recycling giant". letsrecycle.com. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  23. Greer, Stuart (1 February 2018). "AO.com the online electrical retailer moves into the city". men. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  24. "AO.com reaches 100,000 Trustpilot reviews". BusinessCloud.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  25. "VIDEO: Bolton firm AO creates new Hollywood-style advert - to save the sun!". The Bolton News. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  26. "AO to build fridge plant in South East England". letsrecycle.com. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  27. Stevens, Ben (9 November 2018). "AO World to buy Mobile Phones Direct for £32.5m". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  28. "CEO of electricals retailer AO World to step down, founder to..." Reuters. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  29. Craven, Neil. "Founder of AO targets Generation Rent...Our washing machine rental scheme will transform the market". This is Money. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  30. Robert Sant, AO Recycling. "AO hits millionth recycled fridge milestone". letsrecycle.com. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  31. By George MacDonald2019-08-08T09:17:00 (27 February 2020). "AO launches 'game changing' mobile phone business | News". Retail Week. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  32. "AO launches AO Finance to spread the cost of purchases - Your Money". Your Money. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  33. "Can old fridges be recycled to make new ones? - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  34. "AO World ditches Dutch arm to focus on UK and Germany". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  35. "AO.com B2B division expands team after quick growth - Essential Retail". Essential Retail. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  36. "AO World staff reward scheme could one day hand out £240m in bonuses, says 'proud' boss of online electricals retailer". This is Money. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  37. "ao.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  38. News, Bdaily Business. "Fast-growing DRL signs deal for new Bolton headquarters". Bdaily Business News.
  39. "Staff go the extra mile to help their customers". The Bolton News. Newsquest Media Group. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  40. "Retailer 'second best employer' in region". The Bolton News. Newsquest Media Group. 4 March 2012.
  41. "'best100companies'". The Sunday Times.
  42. "AO.com crowned Best Sales Team in the UK". This is Money. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  43. "AO Tech Wins Team of the Year Award 2019". ISM Professional. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  44. "Ad of the Day: Appliances Online - 'Barry'". The Drum. 18 May 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  45. Nic Fildes (3 June 2015). "Tempus: investors look at AO and say: let's go". The Times. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  46. "AO.com TV advert - 1000s of electricals delivered safely". You Tube. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
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