OzSale expands store strategy to Sydney

Heather McIlvaine

18th Sep 2017

Australian flash sales site, OzSale, has opened its first bricks-and-mortar store Down Under, following the success of physical stores operated by its sister brand, NZSale, in New Zealand.

The store, located in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, opened its doors two weeks ago to little fanfare.

Carl Jackson, CEO of MySale Group, the parent company of OzSale and NzSale among other e-commerce brands, said the company has since started marketing the store to its online customer base, but the aim is not necessarily to drive a huge amount of traffic offline.

“We don’t want to channel shift [customers] too much, but we’ll get them to start using services like click and collect,” Jackson told Internet Retailing.

“We’re not building a [traditional] retail business, it’s just an opportunity to replicate what we were already doing in New Zealand,” he emphasised. “We’re an online business. Ninety-nine per cent of our revenues are online.”

Indeed, the bricks-and-mortar stores primarily serve as a way for OzSale to offload excess inventory and returned items that come back in ones and twos and do all “normal omnichannel stuff”, according to Jackson.

“The bit that has worked well [in New Zealand] is customers are now using the online business and the offline business. They’re picking up deliveries and dropping off returns. It has all worked quite nicely,” he said.

But while the store now gives customers a chance to try on clothes before buying them online, Jackson said fit hasn’t been a significant problem for customers, citing the OzSale’s very low return rate of around five per cent.

In terms of layout, the Sydney store will mimic the company’s existing stores in New Zealand, with items organised by gender – male, female, children – then category – dresses, tops – then size.

“It’s a very functional shopping experience that all the best in the business – TK Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off Fifth – use,” Jackson said.

OzSale’s parent company, MySale Group, will report its annual financial earnings next week.