LONDON (Alliance News) - Online retailer MySale Group PLC Monday said it has partnered with its new investor Sports Direct International PLC to launch a Sports Direct offering in Australia and New Zealand.
The recently listed retailer said Sports Direct, the UK's biggest sporting goods retailer by revenue, plans to launch in Australia and New Zealand by forming an online partnership with OzSale.com.au, part of the MySale Group, giving Sports Direct immediate access to its 12 million customers.
"Its Australian and New Zealand sites will be launched later this year and be ready to ship goods in the same month," MySale said in a statement Monday.
News of the joint venture comes just a month after Sports Direct bought a 4.8% stake in MySale, and said it wants to work with the fledging online retailer on developing a Sports Direct offering in Australasia and Asia. At the time, the newly-listed online retailer MySale said it was "pleased to have the support of Sports Direct".
"This partnership is the logical next step in the development of our relationship," said MySale Founder and Executive Vice Chairman Jamie Jackson in a statement Monday.
Alongside the new joint venture, Sports Direct said it plans to open three flagship stores in Australia and one in new Zealand, as it hopes to mirror its UK success in Asia Pacific. It said it will also host an OzSale.com.au outlet within each of the stores.
"It is currently working with MySale on the project and will announce a partnership with a leading Australian retail partner shortly," the company said.
Sports Direct founder and majority shareholder Mike Ashley joins UK retailer entrepreneur Philip Green on MySale's shareholder register. Green, through his wife, is the second biggest shareholder in MySale.
Mysale was launched in Australia in 2007 and has since expanded to New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the US and UK. It is a so-called flash sales retailer - once a customer becomes an "exclusive" member, they get access to member-only fashion sales.
It had about 795,000 active members across eleven online sites on May 14, although it had 10.8 million registered members and says it is adding about 250,000 new members each month.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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