Join Tim in reverse-engineering the success of one of the UK's largest privately held companies, The Hut Group.  As an eCommerce monster, The Hut Group manages over one hundred eCommerce sites globally in competitive markets such as fashion and beauty. Their aggressive approach to digital marketing has helped this company to reach a staggering £1.1bn in sales last year.  So, how has The Hut Group grown from one site to one hundred, establishing itself as the ultimate eCommerce powerhouse?  We guide you through the early 2000s when The Hut Group specialised in the sale of CDs to present day, where the company has a plethora of household names under their belt. From Look Fantastic to My Protein, we dissect some of The Hut Group's most successful websites to pick out the key factors of their insane success.  Spoiler alert! SEO is one of them.  The Hut Group invests 8.6% of revenue into sales and marketing with a large portion of this financing successful search campaigns.  From writing unique, SEO-optimised descriptions for every product they offer to gaining position one for key terms like "whey protein" for My Protein, The Hut Group benefits from organic search and in many ways, relies on it.  Although Tim gives credit where it's due, this episode reveals the good, the bad and the ugly of The Hut Group.  Hint, the ugly lies in defeated blogs, neglected content strategies and ignored social accounts.  By listening to this episode, you'll not only learn how to better your eCommerce business by mirroring The Hut Group's success but also how to avoid its mistakes. The Hut Group hasn’t recovered from Google’s medic update in 2018 and is seriously lacking in social content and engagement compared to its competitors. These are mistakes which Tim warns could cost the eCommerce giant if shopper behaviour shifts towards social in the future.  For more information and show notes, head to: https://exposureninja.com/podcast/162/ 00:00 –– What is The Hut Group?  04:46 –– The Hut Group's acquisition strategy  06:57 –– The Hut Group's digital marketing 09:40 –– The eCommerce experience 23:58 –– How The Hut Group drives traffic  30:06 –– The Hut Group's link strategy  32:17 –– The Hut Group's paid advertising  34:20 –– The Hut Group's social media 40:32 –– The Hut Group in summary