Australian Retail Giant to Capitalise on Kiwi Internet Trend

An Australian internet shopping giant hoping to attract Kiwi bargain hunters has launched in New Zealand creating 40 new jobs in its first year and offering local manufacturers a platform to clear excess stock within 24 hours.

Last year more than 1.4 million Kiwis made purchases online, up 6% on the previous year*.

CatchoftheDay, Australia’s biggest online shopping site*, plans to capitalise on New Zealand’s taste for internet shopping, offering daily bargains on products ranging from tomato planters to LCD TV screens.

The website, which last year cleared more than one million dollars worth of stock in just one hour, is so popular with Australian shoppers that it now ranks ahead* of department stores Myer, Target, and Kmart with its unique one ‘deal’ per day business model.

In Australia one product is sold every 18 seconds with more than 500,000 (over 2% of the population) Australians already members and up to 100,000 of them shopping each day.

Managing Director of CatchoftheDay.co.nz, Hezi Leibovich hopes to replicate that success in this market.

Leibovich says his online store discounts a single product each day which is released at noon online to the public.

The online department store works on the same principal as those people queuing outside shops for limited release concert tickets, Boxing Day sales or stocktake clearances except browsers do their shopping online.

Each CatchoftheDay offer is only available for 24 hours and savings can be made on a variety of well-known brands including homeware, cosmetics, toys and consumer electronic products.

Leibovich is confident bargain conscious New Zealanders will be quick to take advantage of the new online shop despite recent economic setbacks. He says CatchoftheDay.co.nz is already ranked one of New Zealand’s top 10 most visited online shopping websites within days of opening.

“Our consistent sales growth has shown that customers will always buy if the price is right.”

Leibovich says the company is able to give customers access to product at reduced prices because of their ability to bulk order from a number of partner suppliers.

More than 400 Kiwi manufacturers will also benefit from the launch of CatchoftheDay giving them the opportunity to sell large volumes of stock overnight.

The company plans to open a New Zealand headquarters in Auckland this year creating 40 new positions ranging from technical support to warehousing and logistics management.

Notes to editors:

*Online Retail Monitor report Q4 2008 Nielsen Online

* Data from Hitwise.com.au