Toms ramps up Down Under with local site launch

Heather McIlvaine

25th May 2018

Toms has this month launched a local e-commerce site, offering domestic shipping and returns for the first time since the one-for-one brand entered the Australian market.

The move comes after Toms shifted to a distributor model in Australia, appointing Retail Prodigy Group (RPG), which is also the local distributor for Nike, in February.

RPG chose to use Shopify’s e-commerce platform and worked with Prosper Digital to launch the site on May 8.

Prior to this, Toms didn’t have a local website in Australia; online shoppers were re-directed to the brand’s US site and orders were shipped from the US.

RPG’s general manager, Franc Renzi, said the goal is to inform customers that Toms has a local presence in the Australian market.

“We’ve started using Google Shopping and advertising on Facebook and Instagram,” he told Internet Retailing.

Renzi added that the local site launch is just the first phase of Toms’ plan to grow its direct-to-consumer business, with a bricks-and-mortar store set to open on Little Collins St in Melbourne in September, and a second store slated for December.

RPG will continue working with retail partners that sell Toms products, such as The Iconic.

“We won’t walk away from wholesale. We’ll keep that going,” he said.

Toms started in the US in 2006 and is a pioneer of the one-for-one retail model. For every pair of shoes purchased, the business donates a pair of shoes to someone in need.

As the retailer has expanded into sunglasses and apparel, its social causes have also grown.

Today, the business has donated 60 million pairs of shoes, restored eyesight to over 400,000 and helped provide 335,000 weeks of safe water to those in need.