Online marketplace Notonthehighstreet.com has recruited senior managers from Amazon, Paypal and Google as it prepares for international expansion.
The company, which provides a route to market for more than 2,000 small creative businesses who sell through one shopping basket and one checkout, is joined this week by Jason Weston, previously director of UK Softlines at Amazon, as its chief operating officer. Mark Hodson, previously marketing director at PayPal UK joins in October as chief marketing officer, while Maya Moufarek, a founding member of Google’s EMEA emerging markets team, joined in March as the new director of international development.
The three will report to co-founders Holly Tucker, executive chairman (pictured left), and managing director Sophie Cornish (right), helping to prepare the company for overseas expansion. Announcing the new appointments, Tucker said: “These new appointments come a significant time and bring great leadership and business acumen as we work towards our vision of turning notonthehighstreet.com into a very well-known brand in the UK and abroad.
“Jason, Mark and Maya’s combined expertise will be invaluable in helping us build and scale the business as we develop new and existing revenue streams and plan international expansion for the future.”
Moufarek said: “Notonthehighstreet.com is one of the greatest success stories of the British tech and e-commerce scene. I’m thrilled to be taking this story internationally and helping small creative businesses from different countries grow whilst meeting the customer demand for original, charming and unique products.”
Watson added: “I am excited to be working with such an innovative and enthusiastic team to drive the business to become a major online marketplace whose standards of operation are exceptional.”
The news comes five years after Notonthehighstreet.com was launched, and saw 16,000 unique visitors on its first day. Today it employs 65 people at its Richmond-upon-Thames headquarters and its turnover has risen from £100,000 in its first year to £15.1m last year.
During its half-decade in business the company has three times raised external funding, most recently last year when Index Ventures and Greylock Partners invested £7.5m.
