Social commerce business AuMake has continued to see sales weighed down by inflating transformation costs as it works to reposition itself following the disappearance of daigou shoppers in Australia.
Its third quarter sales result of $2.65 million was undercut by manufacturing, operating and staff costs, leaving the business with a $2 million net cash loss for the quarter – with total cash losses for the year hitting $6 million so far.
The business said, however, the majority of the technology investment it needed to create its B2B2C social e-commerce platform is nearly complete, with a tentative mid-June date set for its completion, and that gross merchandise value growth is expected to ramp up in the following quarter.
“AuMake’s new social e-commerce marketplace aligns with the global shift from offline to online retail and closely follows new retail methods in Australia,” AuMake said in a statement.
“It provides Australian and New Zealand brands with an effective channel to seamlessly promote, sell and deliver products to consumers in China.”
And while the business still operates five stores in Sydney, which AuMake said will function in future as showrooms with low-margin, popular products which will be purchased in store and delivered to customers later, executive chairman Keong Chan told AFR in February these stores are likely to be closed in the coming year.
“We’re looking to close those stores in the next 12 months. That’s the way this is all going,” Chan said.
