Ezibuy Wins Major Industry Award

Iconic New Zealand company, EziBuy has won a prestigious award for supply chain innovation for its new multi-million dollar distribution centre.

The win was announced at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Award Institute’s 2006 Annual Awards Day dinner in Wellington last night.

The CILT Award for Supply Chain Innovation recognises notable innovation in systems and technology in the New Zealand Supply Chain sector.

EziBuy’s new Palmerston North centre, which is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, boasts some of the most advanced technologies. These include a 2.4 kilometre conveyer belt as well as voice activated and wire guidance technologies which direct products and forklift machines in the complex.

“We are delighted to have won the award. It confirms our position at the forefront of supply chain and distribution technology and the significant contribution we are making to the industry. Importantly, it recognises the work of the EziBuy team, our consultant Scott Kerr and key suppliers, Dematic, Victor Industries and McMillan & Lockwood who were involved in the distribution centre project,” says EziBuy Chief Executive, Mary Devine.

Mary Devine says the EziBuy distribution centre and its innovations, many of which are firsts for New Zealand, play a pivotal role in the future growth of the company, which is already the largest fashion clothing and home décor catalogue company in Australasia.

“The technology is revolutionary and gives us the capacity to more than double our current output. It is reducing our costs and the time it takes to distribute parcels whilst enhancing safety.”

EziBuy currently distributes 9,000 parcels containing over 30,000 items to Australasian customers each day. The distribution centre will have the capacity to house 204,000 shipping cartons and distribute up to 83,000 items per day.

“The award is another of a long list of achievements for a company which is one of New Zealand’s great commercial success stories,” says Mary Devine.

Background – EziBuy

EziBuy Limited is the largest fashion clothing and home décor catalogue company in Australasia. It is a New Zealand-owned private company with a turnover in excess of $160 million and employs more than 800 staff.

The company was established in Palmerston North in 1978 by brothers Peter and Gerard Gillespie. It expanded to Australia in 1992.

EziBuy makes its core fashion and homeware collections available through catalogues and via its website. It also has retail stores in New Zealand and Australia. The company’s first mailing list of organisations and clubs were drawn from telephone books. Thirty years on, EziBuy produces over 30 catalogues that are mailed to over 650,000 people in New Zealand and Australia, and dispatches an average of 9,000 parcels a day to Australasian shoppers.

EziBuy’s catalogues showcase the company’s core womenswear brands – Capture, Emerge, Grace Hill, Glory and Urban – plus the extended choice offered by exclusive European brands, Together and Apart. Sara, a 16+ women’s fashion collection, completes the range.

In addition to the menswear, homeware and giftware ranges, EziBuy provides corporate apparel and gifts in New Zealand and Australia.

A true Kiwi success story, Ezibuy is one of the few New Zealand companies that have successfully integrated into the Australian market and has established itself as a trans-Tasman household name.

EziBuy cemented its presence in the Australian market when in February 2002 it secured the direct database from Australia’s largest catalogue retailer, Coles Myers.

Today, Australian customers account for over 50 per cent of EziBuy’s total business.

ENDS

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