GrabOne has shut down and won't refund unredeemed vouchers
E-commerce deal website GrabOne has ceased trading after its owner went into liquidation today.
Daniel Stoneman and Neale Jackson of Calibre Partners were appointed liquidators of Global Marketplace New Zealand Limited, which operates the GrabOne business in New Zealand.
GrabOne’s website has disappeared, replaced by a message from the liquidators.
“Due to funding constraints, the business has ceased trading and the liquidators are immediately commencing a sales process for the company’s business and assets,” the liquidators said.
“As a result, the company will not be promoting any existing or future deals whilst in liquidation.”
The liquidators said the company was unable to provide refunds to customers who hold onto unredeemed vouchers.
“Consumers will need to take steps themselves - including contacting individual merchants - to assess how unredeemed vouchers will be treated.”
Retail expert and managing director of First Retail Group Chris Wilkinson said the GrabOne model became “quite a dated concept”.
“There was a lot of euphoria around that type of model around a decade ago.
“It’s almost like the catalogue model of digital marketing, where catalogues were superseded by e-commerce. It’s a legacy digital marketing model.”
Wilkinson said a decade ago deal websites tended to be nationwide models but over time became more localised.
“The deals were always typically good, often to help businesses get some cashflow and to reach new markets.
“Particularly as time went on, they became a very localised response, and it really was down to smaller businesses who needed a boost and were prepared to cut the prices.”
New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), publishers of the New Zealand Herald, sold GrabOne in 2021 to Global Marketplace New Zealand for $17.5 million.
GrabOne was founded in 2010 as a 50/50 venture between IdeaHQ - controlled by entrepreneur Shane Bradley - and then Herald publisher APN. APN progressively bought out Bradley’s stake, taking full control in 2013 in a deal worth up to $12.2m.
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