Digital department store Freemans taps Mirakl technology as it looks to scale dropship capabilities

Freemans.com has announced a partnership with Mirakl involving the online retailer’s dropship capabilities.

Over the last five years, Freemans has been moving from a legacy catalogue business to a digital pureplay with a strategy of targeting the 40+ UK consumer group.

Its digital department store strategy requires a mix of own bought product, some designed in-house and others sourced via its parent Otto. To complement this, its team is onboarding a curation of well known third party retail brands.

The partnership allows Freemans to replatform elements of its dropship strategy to Mirakl’s solution in a bid to accelerate supplier onboarding, help merchandising teams, and unlock new product categories. 

Although it’s early days the collaboration has thus far seen over 70 new third party brands onboarded, including French Connection, Blue Vanilla, Roman Originals, Tog 24, Mountain Warehouse, Einhell, MenKind and Panda.

“This partnership with Mirakl represents a further milestone in our digital transformation. Thanks to their proven technology, we can now accelerate the expansion of our product and brand offering across key categories while preserving the premium customer experience that our million customers have expected through the years.” says Susie Calvert, Chief Merchandising Officer at Freemans.

“This partnership with Freemans highlights the power of simplified dropship operations. With Mirakl’s streamlined supplier onboarding and intuitive management tools, retailers can now scale their partner network without operational complexity,” says Simon Dyer, RVP EMEA North, and VP PreSales EMEA at Mirakl.

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Dropshipping will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards. which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.