NZ retailer records another drop due to ‘cautious consumers’.

 

Sales at New Zealand’s Warehouse Stationery continue to decline with sales in the first half down by five per cent to NZ$117.9 million

 

The result follows a four per cent decrease in Q1 and a 5.8 per cent drop in Q2. 

 

Same store sales, excluding online, were down 1.4 per cent. 

 

Parent company The Warehouse Group said this reflects the "cautious consumer environment", where purchases have been scaled back or postponed. 

 

“Our back-to-school season, traditionally a bustling time for us, was subdued this year as customers pared down their school lists to stock up on the absolute essentials,” the company said. 

 

Growth in the copy & print and smart home categories was more than offset by declines in print consumables and stationery. Online sales of NZ$9.5 million represented eight per cent of Warehouse Stationery’s total revenue.

 

Meantime, The Warehouse Group is to sell or close its loss-making TheMarket online marketplace.

 

TheMarket was launched in 2019 as a brand-driven online shopping platform that was pitched as New Zealand’s answer to Amazon. However, it did not achieve the desired growth trajectory and made an operating loss of NZ$22 million  in the 12 months to 30 July 2023.

 

“It’s time to draw a line under TheMarket.com as a separate entity and shift our marketplace focus to The Warehouse,” TWG CEO Nick Grayston said.

 

Grayston said the result was a “sobering outcome” for the group, adding: “In making these choices to simplify our business, we’re acknowledging that we didn’t create the growth or profitability we wanted to, or in the timeframe we needed in these businesses."