An Australian etail pioneer has revealed how market competition fueled its double-digit revenue growth.
The Grand Social, created by Sydney-based digital creative agency Mentally Friendly, is an online marketplace for local emerging designers and was one of the first multi-vendor retailers to launch in Australia five and a half years ago.
Since then, the business has burgeoned at a rapid pace to include a current catalog which now sits at over 10,000 individual products, with plans to increase its portfolio further and expand the business on the back of market demand.
The Grand Social has recently landed brands such as Toby Jones, Premonition, Lulu in Chains, Zanerobe and Rebecca Vallance and, according to co-founder Nick Gower, the localised etailer now has the capacity to move beyond its current stable and launch larger more mainstream labels in the future.
Gower also revealed that market forces, in particular “huge marketing spends by competitors” has actually helped drive the success of the platform – and a 46 per cent growth in revenue in the past six months.
“Companies such as The Iconic, ASOS and Shopbop are doing great things for online retailers and fashion labels in Australia,” Gower said.
“These bigger guys are giving the online shopping experience legitimacy. In the past the mum and dads may have been skeptical about shopping online, but now, they are feeling comfortable with the whole online process and delving deeper.”
Gower aded that he believes most Australians still prefer to buy local with the online fashion boom pushing the entire sector forward and promoting local platforms along the way.
For more details on the expansion of The Grand Social business, pick up a copy of Ragtrader next month.