After nearly 20 years in business, 22 staff and seven stores across New Zealand – kiwi fashion brand Andrea Moore has gone into liquidation. Liquidators and receivers were appointed yesterday.
The brand's managing director, Brian Molloy, explained that highly damaging late deliveries, crippling creditor payment defaults and extensive roadworks outside both its Auckland and Christchurch stores constrained trade for months. "Though we have a loyal customer base of over 30,000 our problems will be familiar to anyone conversant with the hugely capital-intensive nature of the industry which has become very discount driven affecting valuable margins."
In late 2017, Andrea Moore opened another store on Victoria Street in Wellington. Molloy added that missteps in part of the brand's strategies of undercapitalised bricks and mortar store expansion also contributed to the outcome of the company.
Receiver Andrew Grenfell of McGrath Nicol said stores would continue to trade while they worked with the directors to assess options for the company and hope to sell the company.
Retail NZ's Greg Harford explained that because Kiwi consumers are increasingly willing to buy fashion over the internet, and those foreign firms selling over the internet to New Zealanders have substantial advantages.
"[They have] greater scale, but also they don't have to pay 15 percent GST and 10 percent duty to the New Zealand Government," he said. "The reality is that any New Zealand fashion business has a big disadvantage purely because of Government tax policy."
"The reality is that any New Zealand fashion business has a big disadvantage purely because of Government tax policy."
In 2016, Andrea Moore launched a clothing line for Farmers and launched a crowdfunding campaign on Snowball Effect to raise up to $75,000 to develop the brand. In 2017, they launched its first swim and athelisurewear line. Molloy said it would take $500,000 to provide a jump start for the business, with plans to employ more staff and open another shop as well as talking to Australian department stores.
