Ethical Superstore in administration

Heres the email we received this week about Ethical Superstore. Big sigh. We were owed money and I wonder how many other suppliers are too. I am very glad that the staff have new jobs because they were all very nice and I am certain that it wasn't their fault that things went wrong. 

However, I don't mean to sound bitter but I wish people would stop going on about Ethical Superstore being acquired. They weren't just acquired, they went bust, suppliers lost money and we should be open about this instead of trying to dress it up as something its not. Rant over....Email begins

Dear Supplier,

I’m Peter Slee, Managing Director of Spark Response Ltd (www.sparkresponse.com), and am writing to share news that this week we have bought the assets of Ethicalsuperstore.com Ltd out of administration and plan to operate it as a going concern. For the past year, we have been providing customer contact and fulfilment services to Ethicalsuperstore.com, who had rapidly become one of our most important service partners. Although we were recently disappointed to learn that Ethicalsuperstore.com’s investors unexpectedly withdrew their financial support for the business, we were swift to show our commitment for what we consider to be a fundamentally sound business with good growth potential in serving the market for fair trade and eco friendly products.

I understand that you may have an outstanding debt as a previous supplier to Ethicalsuperstore.com Ltd. EthicalSuperstore.com Ltd is now in administration and any questions regarding the status of residual debts should be addressed to the Administrators at Bridge Business Recovery LLP www.bridgebr.co.uk. The Administrators’ may be contacted by telephone at 020 7025 6130. The Administrators will be in contact with you directly shortly with the necessary documents to record the debt owed to you.

In acquiring the assets of Ethicalsuperstore.com Ltd, which will operate under our Spark Etail Ltd subsidiary (www.sparketail.com ), we are making a long-term commitment to support the activities of the former business including the Natural Collection and Ethicalsuperstore.com online stores and the new OneGoodMarket.com marketplace. As a profitable and well funded business, our plan is to invest significantly in developing the Spark Etail business over the next few years, which we feel confident will generate profitable sales growth for our trading partners.

To operate the day-to-day activities of the new Spark Etail Ltd business, we are employing some of the former staff members of Ethicalsuperstore.com Ltd and I will be working closely with my fellow directors Noel Lambert, Andy Redfern and Vic Morgan in managing the new business. As we are committed to building strong and valued relationships with all of our new suppliers, accounts-related activities will be managed by our central finance department at Spark to ensure the highest levels of support and service.

Having reviewed your previous sales to Ethicalsuperstore.com Ltd, we would like to invite you to work with us as a new merchandise supplier to Spark Etail Ltd. One of the Spark Etail team will contact you shortly regarding the possibility of initiating trading activities with your business, including covering new trading arrangements, product selection and other commercial details – you can forward any trading information or enquiries to buying@sparketail.com. In the meantime, if you have any general questions or feedback, please free to contact me at peter.slee@sparkresponse.com.

Sincerely,

Peter Slee

Director

Spark Etail Ltd

About the Spark Response Group

• Spark Response founded in 1982 and based in Gateshead, is a contact centre and fulfilment specialist with a diverse client range.

• Spark provides contact centre and fulfilment support to organisations including Toys R Us, Cancer Research UK, Best Direct, Ethical Superstore, Red Direct, FitFlop, Soap & Glory, and Pavers Shoes among others.

• As the eCommerce industry emerged, the company’s business model evolved to include service expertise across multiple channels and its fulfilment product range has grown in volume and size.

• Today, Spark Response can despatch anything from a single item of clothing to a full size garden leisure pool, from small parcels for home shopping customers to large trade and retail replenishment orders.