A popular online fashion and homeware Australian-owned retailer, EziBuy has recently entered administration due to a significant decline in sales. Owned by ASX-listed Mosaic Brands, EziBuy experienced a 51% drop in sales during the first half of the 2022-23 financial year. This downturn stands in stark contrast to the overall growth of Mosaic Brands’ other businesses, which saw a 23% increase in online sales revenue during the same period.
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Founded in 1978 as a mail-order business by brothers Peter and Gerard Gillespie in Palmerston North, New Zealand, EziBuy grew to become the largest fashion and homeware multi-channel retailer in Australasia. The company was acquired by Woolworths in 2013 and later sold to Mosaic Brands in 2017 after Sydney-based investment firm Alceon purchased the business from Woolworths. EziBuy was profitable in the 2021 and 2022 financial years but faced challenges due to pandemic lockdowns.
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In August 2021, EziBuy announced a restructure following a $28.9 million loss for the year to June 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2023, Mosaic placed EziBuy into administration with plans to restructure it. Katherine Barnet and Damien Hodgkinson from Olvera Advisers have been appointed as administrators.
Mosaic Brands aims to propose a restructure that would transform EziBuy into a simplified, profitable, cash-generative online-only operation, more closely aligned with the group’s successful digital strategies across its other brands. The company believes that this process will improve the group’s overall net asset position and operating cash flow.
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EziBuy currently has no physical in-store presence in Australia but operates six retail stores and a major distribution center in New Zealand. The brand’s administration will not impact any of the other nine retail brands within Mosaic Brands’ portfolio, including Millers, Rockmans, Noni B, Rivers, Katies, Autograph, Crossroads, and Beme.
