EziBuy Makes Exciting New Appointment

Media release for immediate use 23 July 2007

EziBuy Makes Exciting New Appointment

EziBuy, Australasia’s largest multi-channel retailer, has appointed Mike Pook as General Manager of Retail in a bid to increase its retail presence throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Formerly from The Warehouse, Mr Pook will lead the proposed expansion of EziBuy’s retail network throughout both countries, which will include improving store layout and design.

EziBuy Chief Executive Mary Devine says the company is delighted with the new appointment.

“As a multi-channel retailer we want to provide our growing domestic customer base with improved access to our traditional retail network and a retail environment offering greater choice and improved layout,” she says.

“With over 20 years experience in New Zealand’s retail industry we are confident Mike is the right man to lead our retail development.”

Prior to joining EziBuy, Mr Pook spent four years in management at The Warehouse. His final project as Head of Format and Store Development involved managing the development of The Warehouse Sylvia Park Extra store. He also held a number of management roles throughout his 15-year tenure at Progressive Enterprises, and seven years with Woolworths (NZ) Ltd.

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 was drawn from telephone books. Thirty years on, EziBuy produces more than 30 catalogues that are mailed to more than half a million 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, Grace Hill, Emerge and Urban – plus the extended choice offered by exclusive European brands Together and Apart. Sara, a 16+ women’s fashion collection, completes the range.

EziBuy also provides corporate apparel through Profile, its corporate apparel division, which has led the New Zealand market in providing branded clothing solutions to a range of blue-chip clients and large multi-nationals for 13 years.

A true Kiwi success story, EziBuy is one of the few New Zealand companies that has 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 more than 50 per cent of EziBuy’s total business.

ENDS

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