AuMake says it will focus on catering to Asian tourists at its Australian outlets, shifting away from its original business model of targeting Chinese shoppers intent on posting their products to the mainland.
The ASX-listed company’s 16 shops initially concentrated on selling Australian products to “daigou” – residents who frequent the stores, which each have a designated parking area, in order to send bought items to China in parcels.
“From early 2018 and due to the locations of our stores in Sydney’s CBD, we began to observe the increasing visitation of Asian tourists and their propensity to purchase less well-known and higher margin products relative to daigou,” AuMake executive chairman Keong Chan told shareholders on Wednesday.
AuMake announced in April that it had acquired the Broadway business, including its six Australian stores popular with foreign tourists, for $14.2 million.
“AuMake will continue to service daigou however this will increasingly be transitioning offline traffic to the company’s online platforms, to maximise efficiencies and profitability,” Chan said.