Earlier this month, The Warehouse entered into an agreement to buy 51% of Torpedo7 Ltd. Based in Hamilton, Torpedo7 is the company behind top daily deals site 1day.co.nz. The deal is to buy Torpedo7 is worth $33 million dollars and is a great move by The Warehouse in their effort strengthen their online offerings.
1-day is by far New Zealand's top daily deals site, with Torpedo7 a leader in the action sports category. The Warehouse itself is New Zealands largest retailer so it seems a great blend of the best online, and the best offline in the NZ retail space.
The Warehouse was a little late to the game in terms of selling online. But in 2011 and 2012 they really pushed hard to get their inventory online and build a useful e-commerce site. They have done really well since and even launched their own daily deals site: RedAlert.co.nz. The Warehouse has been on the acquisition trail of late also purchasing the Noel Leeming and Bond and Bond group of stores.
Funnily enough, RedAlert was set up in 2012 to compete with 1-day, now 6-9 months later the warehouse have bought 1day. The Warehouse will let Torpedo7 and 1day run as a separate business to the Warehouse, and they will continue to run their RedAlert daily deals site too. The Warehouse also purchased 3Deals recently.
RedAlert.co.nz
1day.co.nz
Torpedo7.co.nz
