Apparel retailer EziBuy adds Next to its fashion range

Selected children’s clothing, menswear, womenswear (including footwear) and accessories from the hugely popular Next range will be available to EziBuy customers in New Zealand and Australia from August, under a new “drop ship” arrangement.

EziBuy Chief Executive Simon West said the arrival of Next was a significant addition to the Ezibuy portfolio of brands.

“It allows us to complement our existing range and offer our customers the ‘best of British’ with all the benefits of buying via EziBuy, including our 30 day money back guarantee.”

The agreement with Next will see EziBuy offer selected products via both its online and catalogue business in New Zealand and Australia, with stock delivered directly from Next in the United Kingdom.

“Customers will be able to order everything in one go but will receive two packages if they purchase both EziBuy and Next items.” West said Next would be just the first of a number of international brands with which EziBuy planned to develop this type of “drop ship” arrangement.

“It provides us with many opportunities for further growth and we are actively looking for other similar partnerships.

Drop ship arrangements have the advantage of reducing the amount of stock we need to keep in New Zealand, while enabling customers to get the latest international fashions in less than a week.

It also means any returns will be handled by our state-of-the-art distribution centre in Palmerston North rather than customers having to send goods back to the UK,” said Simon West.

West said the Next agreement would help propel EziBuy to the next stage of its growth, with at least 10 per cent of existing EziBuy customers expected to order from the Next range plus new customers being attracted to the offering.

“EziBuy has been enjoying good growth of more than 10 per cent per year over the past decade and we expect that to increase as we bring new and exciting labels like Next into the EziBuy family.”

From humble beginnings in Palmerston North almost 35 years ago, EziBuy is now the largest fashion and home decor multi-channel retailer in Australasia, with distribution regularly exceeding 20,000 items per day to more than 1.5 million customers.

It began as a mail order catalogue company - and still produces 70 catalogues a year – but was quick to adapt to the online environment.

An early pioneer of online retailing, it set up its first internet site in 1998 and enjoyed 50 per cent growth in online ordering between 2007 and 2011.

EziBuy was established in 1978 by brothers, Peter and Gerard Gillespie, who still own more than half the company.

It employs more than 700 staff and, each day, its 25,000 m2 distribution centre in Palmerston North – one of the largest in the southern hemisphere – despatches more than 9,000 parcels to customers on both sides of the Tasman.

The company also operates four retail stores in New Zealand in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North.

EziBuy