Maplin: Rebuilding a legacy brand in an online environment

Brian Carruthers

Maplin, the electronics retail chain, closed its stores in mid-2018 but was reborn six months later as an online-only operation.

Maplin, the high street electronics retailer, closed its doors in June 2018, undone by the combination of a fragile consumer environment, the withdrawal of credit insurance and the effects of a weaker pound that followed from the Brexit vote.

But the brand lives on, bought and then relaunched as an online-only operation in January 2019. And that speed speaks to the power of the Maplin name, a byword for convenience and customer service.

“It’s an extremely strong, well-loved brand,” Ollie Marshall, Maplin’s managing director, told Mediatel’s Future of Brands & Marketing event (April 2021). “People know exactly what Maplin is...

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