The company was founded by J. H. Waring and P. M. Sebestyen as Radiospares in a lock-up garage at Lanark Villas in Maida Vale in London in 1937.

In 1954, the founders of Radiospares expanded the company's focus from shops and home users to the industrial sector and began selling electronic components to manufacturers.

[3] A feature of the company's operations was its free illustrated catalogue, with every item being given an eight-digit part number.

[10] RS Group plc is an omni-channel provider of products and services for designers, builders and maintainers of industrial equipment and operations, serving over 1 million customers in more than 80 countries.

[11] The company distributes over 600,000 products, including electronic components, electrical, automation and control, and test and measurement equipment, and engineering tools and consumables, sourced from 2,500 suppliers.