Hudson jeans has enforced a ban on international websites importing its product into Australia and New Zealand in a bid to protect and support traditional bricks and mortar retailers.
The brand, which was established in LA in 2002, is distributed by Australia-based fashion house MMMC, which sources premium brands from overseas and introduces them into the Australian and New Zealand market.
MMMC’s sales and marketing general manager, Joseph Borchan, believes it is unfair that bricks and mortar retail have bigger overheads and more taxes imposed on them than their international competitors, who are allowed to sell into Australia, tax free, for all sales under $1,000.
Borchan said that Hudson has now enforced the ‘stop ship policy’ from international sites by restricting the territories into which these sites can sell.
“While the internet has made the world a smaller place, it has not made it one world,” Borchan said.
“Hudson has restricted sites like Shopbop and Revolve from selling into territories like Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where there are existing distribution licences in place.”
By restricting the international sites, shoppers from Australia and New Zealand can only buy the jeans through stores and websites based in their own country.
“Without the exposure of actual physical product in stores, then sales would eventually diminish anyway,” Borchan said.
To enforce the ban, Hudson and MMMC regularly check all the online sites in question to make sure that a sale of Hudson jeans does not go through.
“While online retail is the future, there is still a need for representation in retail stores where people can see, feel and try on the product – this new strategy will keep a brand alive in a competitive market like Australia,” Borchan said. “So far we have not seen a single unit delivered into our territory and most sites are respectful of this.”
Pippa Chambers