EziBuy placed into administration by Mosaic Brands

Hot water bottle covers sold by EziBuy.

Noni B owner Mosaic Brands has placed its New Zealand and Australian multi-channel retailer EziBuy into administration as it struggled to maintain its rate of sales after the global pandemic.

The company said EziBuy‘s performance had been at odds with the strong and continued digital growth across Mosaic’s omnichannel brands.

EziBuy appointed Katherine Barnet and Damien Hodgkinson from Olvera Advisers as administrators.

Mosaic Brands took hold of EziBuy after its major shareholder Alceon purchased the business from Woolworths in 2017.

In 2019, Alceon, which had plans to build an online department store fronted by high-profile model Jennifer Hawkins, sold a 50.1 per cent sale of EziBuy to Noni B, owned by Mosaic Brands.

The deal was worth $11m.

At that time, Alceon was the Mosaic Brands largest shareholder, with a 36 per cent interest.

It was part of Mosaic’s online strategy, and the business, which has no Australia stores, was profitable in the 2021 and 2022 financial years, Mosaic Brands said.

The business was impacted by the return of shoppers to stores, with sales down 51 per cent for the first half of the 2023 financial year compared to the prior corresponding period.

As a result, Mosaic conducted a strategic review of its operating cost and structure.

Mosaic said it intended to propose a restructure to the administrator that would see EziBuy emerge as a simplified, profitable, cash generative online only operation and one that is more aligned with the group‘s other brands.

Online sales for Mosaic Brands now account for 23 per cent of its sales, excluding EziBuy, and are up 68 per cent since before the global pandemic.

EziBuy has been the largest fashion and homeware multichannel retailer in Australasia, mailing more than 23 million catalogues every year and processing more than 1.75 million orders annually.

It operates via websites, catalogues and six retail stores around New Zealand, with a major distribution centre in the central North Island.

It has several brands for plus-sized women, including Sara, Formfit, Deesse, Isobar Active Plus and Quayside Plus Size.

The plan was believed to be for Alceon to market newly acquired brands through its EziBuy business.

However, Alceon changed its plans when it realised EziBuy did not have the fashion expertise for such a venture and instead opted to cut Noni B into the equation.

The Australian listed Mosaic Brands is chaired by Richard Facioni and run by Scott Evans.

It owns Noni B, and brands that were previously part of Specialty Fashion Group including Millers, Rockmans, Rivers, Katies and Autograph.

In October, Spotlight founder and owner Morry Fraid emerged as a substantial shareholder in the embattled apparel chain with a 5.19 per cent holding.

EziBuy was sold through UBS by Catalyst Investment Management to Woolworths in a $NZ350 million ($335m) transaction during 2013.

Woolworths was expected to sell it for less than $100m before it was purchased by Alceon.

For the six months to January, Mosaic Brands’ net profit fell 83 per cent on the previous corresponding period to $2.4m.