Dabs.com
Former British e-commerce retailer
title: "Dabs.com" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["online-retailers-of-the-united-kingdom", "consumer-electronics-retailers-of-the-united-kingdom", "defunct-retail-companies-of-the-united-kingdom", "bt-group"] description: "Former British e-commerce retailer" topic_path: "engineering" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabs.com" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Former British e-commerce retailer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | dabs.com |
| logo | Dabs.png |
| type | Subsidiary |
| foundation | (offline as Dabs Press) |
| (offline as Dabs Direct and eventually online as Dabs.com) | |
| key_people | Helen Slinger (CEO) |
| location | Bolton, England |
| area_served | United Kingdom |
| Republic of Ireland | |
| num_employees | 200 |
| industry | Retail |
| revenue | £200m (2008) |
| parent | BT Group |
| :: |
| name = dabs.com | logo = Dabs.png | type = Subsidiary | foundation = (offline as Dabs Press) (offline as Dabs Direct and eventually online as Dabs.com) | key_people = Helen Slinger (CEO) | location = Bolton, England | area_served = United Kingdom Republic of Ireland | num_employees = 200 | industry = Retail | revenue = £200m (2008) | parent = BT Group | homepage =
dabs.com was an e-commerce retailer in the United Kingdom which was one of the country's largest online retailers of IT and technology products. From 2006 until its closure in 2016, it was a subsidiary of BT Group.
History
Originally Dabs Press, from 1987 to 1990, then Dabs Direct, the company primarily sold its products via advertisements in IT-related magazines. dabs.com was founded in Bolton by David Atherton and Bruce Smith in 1987; Dabs is an acronym of the initials of the founders' names. It subsequently grew to employ more than 200 people, with annual revenue of £200m from 5,000 transactions daily.
Dabs.com was a shirt sponsor of Fulham F.C. for the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons.
BT takeover
In April 2006 it was announced that BT Group had purchased dabs.com for an estimated £30m and that the business would become a wholly owned subsidiary of BT. The company's operations in France were subsequently closed at the end of May 2006.
Closure
In April 2016, the dabs.com brand was retired and replaced by BT Shop for consumers and BT Business Direct for business customers. This included the closure of the dabs.ie website for the Republic of Ireland and the end of consumer-oriented sales there on the same date.
References
References
- "David Atherton at E-consultancy".
- "About Dabs: Our history and growth".
- (12 May 2003). "Fulham dabs new sponsor".
- (28 April 2006). "BT buys online retailer dabs.com". BBC News.
- "Sorry! dabs France has closed".
- (23 March 2016). "BT to bin Dabs.com brand".
- "dabs.com Customer {{pipe".
- "Information for Dabs customers in the Republic of Ireland".
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