It was 2019 when a flagship project of a large New Zealand retail group was launched.
On August 1 of that year, The Warehouse Group, a listed company on NZX in New Zealand, announced that it would build an e-commerce platform TheMarket.com launch with a heavy investment.
At that time, The Warehouse set a flag to make TheMarket the "Amazon of New Zealand":
"There are 110 million households in the U.S. that have Amazon Prime members, which will be their first choice for buying anything."
Nick Grayston, CEO of The Warehouse Group, was confident that the Red House, as a leading retail company in New Zealand, was a household name in New Zealand.
He said TheMarket could capture the same market share in New Zealand.
"We've sold to 3.9 million of the 4.8 million New Zealanders and we've got good personalisation data. Now it's time to expand our reach. ”
They want to sell more products from third-party merchants through e-commerce platforms, much more than physical stores.
In this way, it is possible to achieve digital transformation and take advantage of the existing customer advantages to occupy the New Zealand market......
01
Five years after its establishment, it was suddenly announced that it would close its doors
After 5 years, I never thought that it would usher in the news of closure.
Last Friday, New Zealand's well-known large retail group The Warehoue announced that it decided to close the e-commerce platform TheMarket.com that had been operating for five years in late June.
This is a helpless choice after fruitless acquisition negotiations with several companies.
As a public company, The Warehoue is required to make public disclosures to the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
"We are disappointed that TheMarket.com did not meet expectations and we will be shutting down the platform's operations," the statement said. ”
02
Large retail businesses are in decline
The Warehoue, which works in the retail industry, has had a lot of bad luck this year.
At the beginning of the year, the group sold its outdoor sports retail brand, Torpedo7, for $1.
At that time, some analysts believed that when selling a brand for 1 New Zealand dollar, buyers did not pick up a bargain, but showed that the entire retail industry was facing difficulties.
The Warehouse Group posted a net loss of $23.7 million in the six months to the end of January.
The Warehouse hopes to focus on its core brand after selling its sub-brand.
The group has a large number of brands, but the latest quarter is still not satisfactory.
Among them, Noel Leeming, an electronic appliance brand, was the brand with the largest decline in the most recent quarter, with sales down 9.3%.
另外，Warehouse Stationery也因办公家具需求下降而下降了7.5%。
03
New Zealand netizens revealed that the price was too high
Regarding the news that TheMarket.com is going to close, New Zealand netizens have hundreds of messages under the news.
There is a group of opinions that TheMarket's own business is not very good, there is no advantage to study, and it is not surprising that it is closed.
Some netizens said, "In terms of goods, services and prices, TheMarket is not even as good as Mighty-Ape (another platform in New Zealand)." “
A netizen told such a story:
I looked at TheMarket's website, and there are thousands of businesses selling on the platform, and it seems to be supported by some of the big retailers and some small retailers in New Zealand. However, the reason why I want to say it is because from the customer's point of view, the price is not cheap at all, an office chair we fancy costs 1,200 dollars, and the imported trademark price is about 1,000. Bunnings in Australia costs 280, and elsewhere it is generally 300-400. This is a great example of what is going wrong in New Zealand's retail sector.
There are also New Zealand netizens who said that they have never felt how TheMarket is, "The things on it are either Warehouse's own things, or they are all other things that can be bought from Aliexpress, but Ali's price is much cheaper......"
Others said that the things on the TheMarket.com are similar to Temu's except for the branded goods, "I'm not surprised that it went out of business."
Some netizens said that TheMarket's e-commerce logistics also have problems, and even compared with ordering from Temu and shipping from China, there is no advantage.
03
Netizen: If you can't beat Pinduoduo, you should ban it
But there is also a group of opinions that overseas platforms like Temu and Shein are too fierce and squeeze local New Zealand companies, which is not good for New Zealand.
"Now I can buy the same thing from Temu (Pinduoduo Overseas Edition) for half the price, and I can also enjoy free shipping. What more can you expect? ”
Some New Zealanders have even suggested "banning overseas e-commerce companies such as Temu and Shein".
"These companies are not employing retail workers in New Zealand. Only those who deliver and sort parcels in New Zealand can benefit. All the money went overseas.
"When you walk into Kmart and buy clothes or something, yes, they're making money, but they're also paying their employees. Temu and Shein are completely absent and pose a significant threat to our retail stores due to the size of these companies and their extremely low prices......"
Chinese netizens also expressed their opinions:
Local retail in New Zealand is getting harder and harder now,
How can we develop in the future?
I wonder what everyone's opinion is?