Grays Australia has bought South African-owned retail website www.oo.com.au for an undisclosed amount.
Gray Australia, which comprises of Graysonline.com, Graysoutlet.com and Graysescape.com, will now become the largest e-commerce business in Australia with over $350 million in sales and a customer database of over three million people.
Cameron Poolman, Grays CEO, said Grays wants to be in a strong position to capitalise on the continued growth of online retail market and the acquisition of OO is the next step.
“Both businesses have been leaders in the online retail space for over nine years, and have profitably operated on proven business models. The incremental $50m from OO will take Grays company turnover to more than $350 million, making it a major retailer in the Australian market place,” he said.
“Importantly, the extra scale provided by this acquisition will ensure our ongoing profitability using a sustainable business model.”
As part of the acquisition, Grays will own the OO brand, website, customer database and staff expertise. The company plans to retain the OO brand, expand the range of existing categories, introduce new categories and make additional investment into the website. Rolf Krecklenberg who is the current CEO of OO will also continue to manage the business.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for OO staff and our customers to join the Grays group. I am looking forward to expanding our range, entering new categories and leveraging the Grays infrastructure so that we can offer our customers even better value. We have an exciting future ahead and we look forward to remaining at the forefront of online retail in Australia,” Krecklenberg said.
The OO warehousing and staff will also relocate from their 9,000 square site to Grays’ 30,000 square headquarters over the next three to six months.