DealsDirect.com.au says specialist funds manager, Ellerston Capital, has acquired a minority, cornerstone investment in the company.
Founded by Paul Greenberg and Mike Rosenbaum in October 2004, DealsDirect.com.au offers consumers value and range, and its vendor customers the end-to-end solution to customers, including warehousing, distribution and fulfillment.
Greenberg said Ellerston’s investment, along with increased access to skills and strategic support, will allow DealsDirect to pursue opportunities in a high-growth and rapidly evolving marketplace.
“We have been at the forefront of online retailing in this country for some years, and this deal allows us to explore all opportunities to continue our innovation and leadership in the space. Growing the range, strategic acquisitions, new adjacencies and further building on the end-to-end customer experience are all obvious objectives and focus,” Greenberg said.
“While traditional offline retailers are still facing the challenges of building a sustainable ecommerce strategy, we think we are well poised to build on our first-mover advantage and our years of learning and experience in online sales. We intend to grow our market share and enthusiastically pursue growth opportunities and this vote of confidence by Ellerston Capital allows us to do this rapidly,” he added.
The online store carries recognised national brands and DealsDirect’s own house brands. It boasts more than 1.5 million unique browsers every month,and says it sells an item every 20 seconds.
The company’s 22,000sqm combined warehouse and distribution centre in Ingleburn, NSW is capable of shipping 30,000 parcels per day. It has shipped millions of parcels over the last six years to more than one and a half million Australian addresses.
In February 2011, DealsDirect launched an adjacent brand, DealMe.com.au, providing a “deal a day” experience to customers – both a hot, national branded product of the day and an “experience” in each capital city. It says its points of difference to the plethora of group buying sites include – in most cases – free shipping on product and “capping” the quantity on each experience offer.
Ellerston Capital’s Martin Dalgleish said his company invested in DealsDirect having identified that online retail is a key growth sector.
“We wanted to back an Australian business that has already established a leadership position. DealsDirect.com.au not only has a broad range of quality merchandise offering great value, but has recently launched an exciting new group buying initiative in DealMe! We think the company is well positioned to become a pre-eminent online player.”
Dalgleish, a recognised leader and past director of some of Australia’s leading online and media companies and Naseema Sparks, who is one of Australia’s leading marketing and brand practitioners, will shortly join the DealsDirect board.
