Big Brown Box was an

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

retailer of audio visual products, based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It was a subsidiary of

Winning Appliances Winning Appliances is a fourth-generation Australian family-owned kitchen and laundry specialist. The company operates fifteen showrooms across Australia, seven of which are in New South Wales, two in Queensland, two in Victoria, three in Weste ...

and

Appliances Online Appliances Online is an online retailer for white goods and home appliances that is based in Sydney, Australia. The company is a subsidiary of the family-run Winning Group, which includes Winning Appliances, Winning Services and Home Clearanc ...

until 2015 when it was merged with Appliances Online.

History

An online retail site trading as Big Brown Box was launched by Thorn Group Limited (owners of brands including

Radio Rentals Radio Rentals was formed in 1930Radio Rentals Staff Handbook in Brighton, Sussex, UK to rent out radio sets by Percy Perring-Thoms with a turnover in the first year of £780 (). It later offered televisions and ultimately video recorders for re ...

and Rentlo) in November 2008. It offered

whitegoods A major appliance, also known as a large domestic appliance or large electric appliance or simply a large appliance, large domestic, or large electric, is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cookin ...

small appliances A small domestic appliance, also known as a small electric appliance or minor appliance or simply a small appliance, small domestic or small electric, is a portable or semi-portable machine, generally used on table-tops, counter-tops or oth ...

and electronic products. The site allowed customers to order goods online with Radio Rentals stores facilitating delivery and service of the goods. At the time, company leaders were confident of its success in the competitive online market, but made it clear they were not pursuing a discounting war strategy, and would take a "sensible and easy approach". In November 2009, the ASX announcement from Thorn Group Limited noted that the BigBrownBox.com.au strategy was "gaining impetus". In the same report, Thorn Group Managing Director, John Hughes, was quoted as saying: "Big Brown Box is really starting to gain some momentum and it is great to see a good steady increase in sales together with very positive customer feedback, particularly from those people in regional areas." The site had reached more than 800,000 visits by August 2009. Big Brown Box's

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

store was launched in July 2010, and Big Brown Box recorded a score of five out of five star ratings for all eBay seller rating categories (Item Description, Communication, Postage time, and Postage and Handling Charges). It also received a 98.7 per cent positive feedback rating. In November 2010, the Thorn Group announced it would exit the online venture BigBrownBox.com.au in early 2011 due to difficult trading conditions and the poor state of the retail market. A statement on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

said the group expected minimal impact on profitability for FY11 and there was potential for far better returns from an alternative investment. John Hughes told Retailbiz the move was in the best interest of

shareholders A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal owner ...

. The strength of the

Australian Dollar The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island s ...

, leading to

price deflation In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0% (a negative inflation rate). Inflation reduces the value of currency over time, but sudden deflation ...

, aggressive price competition and softening consumer demand were also identified as reasons for the closure. The move was completed by March 2011. John Winning,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of white goods retailer

, purchased the digital asset for Big Brown Box. Big Brown Box was part of the National Associated Retail Traders of Australia (NARTA) group. In 2015 owing to the significant customer crossover between the Appliances Online and Big Brown Box businesses the two businesses were merged, and Big Brown Box redirecting to Appliances Online's site.

Awards

Power Retail Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

award for Best Site Design,

Online Retailer Industry Awards In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

2010.

References

External links

*
Big Brown Box blog
{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314234520/http://www.bigbrownbox.com.au/ , date=14 March 2015 , title=Big Brown Box
Appliances Online

Winning Appliances
Companies based in Sydney Online retailers of Australia Retail companies established in 2008 Privately held companies of Australia