Rackhams' digital transformation accelerates with three-year Marketplacer partnership

Historic Birmingham department store Rackhams marks a milestone in its online revival, partnering with Marketplacer to expand its curated luxury marketplace and support over 600 sellers in just its first year of digital operations.

Rackhams, the historic Birmingham-founded department store dating back to 1881, has marked a significant milestone in its digital rebirth by committing to a three-year partnership with Marketplacer. This follows a notably successful first yea...

r since its relaunch as an online-only luxury marketplace, during which Rackhams onboarded over 600 sellers and showcased more than 200,000 products. The partnership underscores Rackhams’ ongoing ambition to grow as one of the UK’s fastest-expanding curated marketplaces.

Central to Rackhams’ rapid scaling is its marketplace-first business model, which CEO Mark Jordan has described as pivotal to balancing exceptional experiences for both customers and selling partners. Unlike traditional department stores or “bolt-on” marketplace solutions that often fail to provide dedicated seller support, Rackhams emphasises a flexible, hands-on approach in collaboration with Marketplacer. Recognising that seller data comes in various formats, the company avoids a rigid, one-size-fits-all integration method. Instead, it customises data handling to ensure a seamless and consistent shopping experience for customers, while allowing sellers to present their products optimally. “If you can remove pain points for your partners, you gain far more traction,” Jordan said, highlighting the importance of personal relationships fostered through responsive onboarding teams available by phone and email.

Marketplacer provides the technological backbone supporting Rackhams’ empowerment of sellers. Its platform facilitates direct integrations with major e-commerce systems such as Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce, allowing sellers to upload entire catalogues within minutes and benefit from automated syncing of inventory, pricing, and orders. For more complex operations, additional channel management tools and bulk upload options offer multiple routes for seller onboarding and growth. Industry voices affirm the effectiveness of this setup, with Digital Director of Pertemba, Michael Joules, commenting that Rackhams’ use of Marketplacer demonstrates how focused implementation and support can create a foundation for collaborative growth, benefiting both sellers and customers.

Adding to this, sellers themselves have praised Rackhams’ attentive support and intuitive platform usability. Matt Lambeth of OLPRO noted the ease with which products can be amended and prices updated, underscoring the swift and reliable customer service from the Rackhams team—a standout in an environment where technology platforms sometimes leave sellers to navigate challenges alone.

Behind the scenes, Rackhams is not solely reliant on Marketplacer’s technology but has invested further infrastructure enhancements to improve payout speed, data management, and system reliability, thereby enriching the overall seller experience.

The broader context of Rackhams’ relaunch reveals a strategic response to the evolving retail landscape in the UK, particularly in Birmingham. After a 25-year absence from the British market, the brand re-emerged digitally in 2024, focusing on luxury and curated shopping experiences spanning fashion, beauty, home, and garden categories. The digital department store model embraces a quality-conscious audience, facilitating increased conversion rates and higher average order values by positioning premium and boutique brands alongside each other in a unified marketplace. Rackhams offers free delivery on every order, a notable incentive in a competitive market.

This digital revival contrasts sharply with the fate of physical department stores in the city, exemplified by House of Fraser’s transformation of its Birmingham Corporation Street store into an outlet space. Such physical store reductions underline the broader sectoral shift as retailers adapt to changing consumer habits, focusing more on online channels and optimising physical footprints.

Overall, Rackhams’ progressive partnership with Marketplacer represents a case study in how legacy retail brands can thrive in a digital-first economy through technology-driven flexibility, dedicated seller support, and a curated marketplace model. By prioritising both human connection and sophisticated technological integration, Rackhams is carving out a distinctive space in the UK’s luxury e-commerce sector with promising prospects for continued growth over the coming years.

Source: Noah Wire Services