What Hannants does

Hannants, trading through H. G. Hannant Limited (registered in England and Wales), is a UK specialist retailer of plastic model kits, plastic figures, and modelling accessories, operating primarily through its e-commerce platform at hannants.co.uk and supplemented by two physical retail locations: the main warehouse and walk-in store in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and a London model shop in Colindale, North London. The catalogue covers over 500 manufacturers (including Tamiya, Airfix, Eduard, Trumpeter, Zvezda, ICM, and MiniArt) across 100+ scales and product categories ranging from aircraft and military vehicle kits to ships, figures, tools, paints, adhesives, decals, and aftermarket accessories. The platform includes advanced search/filter functionality, wish lists, a backorder system with 10% discount on out-of-stock items, a stock-watching notification service, and gift vouchers, supported by AWS-hosted infrastructure and PCI-tested security.

The business operates a direct-to-consumer model reaching individual hobbyists (primary), retail shops via trade/wholesale accounts (secondary), and modelling clubs/groups. Pricing is unit-based, displayed in British Pounds with optional export pricing and multi-currency support across 17 currencies for international shipping. Checkout supports Sagepay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Klarna. Marketing channels comprise a weekly 'Hot News' email newsletter, organic search through the e-commerce site, and event presence at hobby shows such as IPMS Telford. The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional backing, has 11-50 employees, and continues to operate as an active mail-order and retail business serving the global modelling community.

Name

Hannants

Legal name

H. G. Hannant Limited

Website

https://hannants.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hannants is a UK specialist retailer of plastic model kits, figures, and accessories, operating an e-commerce platform plus Lowestoft warehouse and Colindale London shop, serving hobbyists, trade shops, and clubs worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hobby and Model Kits Retail

NAICS

Other Miscellaneous Retailers (4599)

akta.pro primary industry

Scale Model Kits (Aircraft, Armor, Ships, Cars) (CRALAKAA)

Keywords

• Plastic model kits
• Hobby modeling supplies
• Scale model retail
• Modelling accessories
• Hobby mail order

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales of Plastic Model Kits: Core revenue from selling plastic model kits, figures, and accessories from over 500 manufacturers. Products include aircraft kits, military vehicle kits, ship kits, figure kits, modelling tools, paints, and decals across various scales.
2. Modelling Supplies and Accessories: Sales of modelling accessories including adhesives, airbrushes, paint brushes, modelling tools, decal solutions, and weathering products.
3. Trade/Wholesale Supply: Supply of model kits and accessories to retail shops through trade accounts.
4. Second Hand/Pre-owned Kits: Sale of second-hand model kits through dedicated section on website.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Hannants is a specialist UK retailer of plastic model kits, plastic figures, and modelling accessories, stocking products from over 500 manufacturers across more than 100 scale options covering aircraft, military vehicles, ships, figures, paints, tools, and aftermarket parts. The company operates an e-commerce platform and mail order business supported by two physical retail locations in Lowestoft, Suffolk and Colindale, London, serving individual hobbyists and a small base of trade resellers.

Product overview

Hannants is *the* online store for plastic model kits, plastic figures and accessories, operating as both an e-commerce platform and multi-location retailer in the UK. The company offers a comprehensive online store (hannants.co.uk) alongside physical retail locations in Lowestoft, Suffolk and Colindale, London. The core product is the online retail platform featuring over 600 manufacturers of model kits from major brands (Tamiya, Airfix, Italeri, Hasegawa, Revell, Dragon, Trumpeter, Eduard, ICM, MiniArt) and specialty accessory makers. Supporting services include a mail order operation, backorder system for reserving out-of-stock items, stock watching notifications, a weekly Hot News email newsletter, gift vouchers, and trade supply services for shops. The company has ceased purchasing second-hand kits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Plastic Model Kits Plastic model kits covering aircraft, military vehicles, ships, and figures across 100+ scale options from over 500 manufacturers including Tamiya, Airfix, Eduard, Trumpeter, Zvezda, ICM, Hasegawa, Revell, Dragon, Italeri, MiniArt, and dozens of specialty resin and aftermarket producers.
• Modelling Tools and Accessories Modelling supplies and accessories including adhesives, airbrushes, paint brushes, modelling tools (e.g., Squadron, Flex-I-files), decal solutions, weathering products, and other consumables for scale model construction.
• Paints and Finishing Products Modelling paints and finishing products from major brands such as Humbrol, Tamiya, Xtracolor, Xtracrylix, Hataka, AMMO, and Vallejo, covering acrylic, enamel, and lacquer ranges for scale modellers.
• Decals and Aftermarket Parts Decals, photo-etched parts, resin upgrades, masks, and aftermarket detailing products from manufacturers such as Eduard, Aerobonus, Airdoc, Aires, Quickboost, Brassin, and dozens of specialty producers for kit detailing and marking variants.
• Trade and Wholesale Supply Wholesale supply service for retail shops via dedicated trade accounts, providing access to wholesale pricing and broad product range from 500+ manufacturers for resellers.
• Gift Vouchers Hannants-branded gift vouchers purchasable through the website for redemption against store purchases.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Sagepay UKcoreOthersPayment processing provider for credit/debit card transactions on the Hannants e-commerce platform. Industry standard payment gateway for UK e-commerce.
• PayPalcoreOthersPayment processing provider enabling PayPal checkout option on the e-commerce platform.
• Royal Mail, Parcelforce, DPDcoreOthersDelivery and shipping partners. Hannants passes customer email addresses and mobile numbers to these carriers for delivery tracking alerts.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreOthersCloud infrastructure provider hosting Hannants servers in AWS EU Ireland datacenter. Servers protected by AWS firewalls with daily security updates and PCI security scanning.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Amazon: Global generalist marketplace carrying the same model kit SKUs as Hannants from Tamiya, Airfix, etc. Sets competitive pricing benchmarks and absorbs a share of price-led discovery traffic for the same consumer base.
• Games Workshop: UK-listed miniatures and hobby giant operating Warhammer stores worldwide; overlapping hobbyist customer base and omni-channel retail model, but a much larger incumbent focused on its own IP rather than multi-brand distribution.
• Airfix (Hornby Hobbies): Iconic UK model kit manufacturer with direct online retail and broad hobby range. Overlaps with Hannants on core scale kits and shares the UK hobby market, but is a brand owner rather than multi-brand distributor.

Direct peers

• Hobby Link Japan: Japan-based online retailer of Japanese and international model kits, figure kits, tools and paints. Direct peer in international specialist model kit e-commerce with global shipping comparable to Hannants.
• Sprue Brothers Models: US-based online specialist retailer of plastic model kits, paints, and accessories from major manufacturers. Closest international direct peer to Hannants, competing for the same hobbyist customers across geographies.
• Squadron Mail Order: Long-running US mailorder and online hobby retailer specialising in plastic model kits, books, decals and aftermarket products from hundreds of manufacturers — same specialist catalog model as Hannants.
• Model Rectifier Corporation: US specialist mailorder/online retailer of model kits and hobby supplies, one of the older incumbents in scale model e-commerce serving the same customer profile as Hannants.
• MegaHobby.com: Online US retailer of plastic model kits, tools, paints and accessories serving scale modellers; operates a similar single-warehouse, multi-manufacturer specialist model.

Regional players

• Wayland Games: UK-based online and physical hobby retailer covering wargaming, model kits, paints and tabletop — adjacent UK specialist serving overlapping hobbyists from a different core category (wargames).
• Lucky Model: Hong Kong-based online model kit retailer shipping globally with a broad catalogue of Asian and Western brands; competes with Hannants for international modellers but is headquartered in Asia.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hannants-of-london-limited

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hannants