Ferrit Books Whitcoulls
Single Shopping Cart the Key
Whitcoulls, New Zealand’s leading book chain, has signed with Ferrit.co.nz, making thousands of books and DVD titles
available online to New Zealanders nationwide.
All books and DVDs stocked in Whitcoulls Queen Street Corner Store will be available on Ferrit.co.nz, and orders will be
dispatched from the Auckland store to customers throughout the country.
To mark the occasion Ferrit and Whitcoulls will be undertaking joint promotional activities in the lead up to Christmas.
For instance every purchase of a Whitcoulls product through the new Ferrit shopping cart until December 22 goes into a
draw to win a $1000 shopping spree for Whitcoulls books and DVDs on Ferrit.co.nz.
The most visible promotional activity is Ferrit’s sponsorship of the iconic Whitcoulls Santa on Queen Street. And while
Whitcoulls customers won’t be able to take the big red guy home to remind them that they can shop and purchase online,
they will be given bookmarks from Whitcoulls featuring the popular Ferrit Guy.
“We’re delighted to have Whitcoulls as a retail partner,” says Peter Wogan, Ferrit Head of Marketing. “Their presence on
Ferrit.co.nz increases the number of products we have to offer, giving people more choice and more gift ideas whenever
they find time to shop. Books and DVDs are key categories for online retail and to have Whitcoulls Queen Street Corner
Store inventory available helps make Ferrit a ‘must visit’ site whenever people need to shop.”
“Online sales by New Zealand retailers have been affected by overseas sites like Amazon. By investing in building a
strong online shopping site Ferrit is helping keep retail dollars in New Zealand. That’s better for Kiwi retailers and
better for consumers who are likely to find that, depending on the title, they will get their books faster and at a
lower cost, once they take delivery charges into account.”
According to intent monitoring report, Hitwise, over 75 percent of the shopping and classifieds sites that New
Zealanders look at are local. However only around 20 percent of book shopping traffic goes to local sites .
Ferrit’s own market research indicates that over three quarters of the money New Zealanders spend purchasing new goods
online goes to New Zealand sites. However in the books category, 63 percent of the money spent goes to overseas sites .
“Working with Ferrit will help Whitcoulls provide an even higher level of service to our customers nationwide by
allowing them to buy books and DVDs wherever and whenever they want,” says Justin Boyes, Sales and Marketing Manager for
Whitcoulls. “DVD customers, in particular, have been asking us when they will be able to buy DVDs online, so we’re
delighted to be making our range available to them on Ferrit, where they can now enjoy 24-hour service from New
Zealand’s favourite book store.”
This agreement comes at the same time as Ferrit unveils a new version of its retail website, Ferrit 2.0, where users are
now able to buy directly from the site via a Ferrit shopping cart. The new site also allows users to select products
from multiple stores, load them into a single shopping cart and pay with a single secure credit card entry.
Whitcoulls joins over 100 other retailers whose products are available on Ferrit.co.nz. It is one of the first of a
number of new retailers who appear on Ferrit’s just launched transactional website.
Ends