Godfreys Group, the iconic retailer of vacuums cleansers has been placed into administration with the big question now is who will end up with distribution of several of their products including the iconic Hoover brand.
Sydney based Tempo already has the rights to the Hoover appliance range with the Company is a prime position to take on the Hoover vacuum cleaner range.
The business that has been selling cleaning products for close on 100 years, collapsed into administration due in part to the likes of The Good Guys, Harvey Norman and Bing Lee cranking up their sales of cleaning products including robotic vacuum products from the likes of LG, Samsung and Ecovacs.
At this stage it’s not known how much debt the Company has, or which creditors are affected.
The business had been owned by the Johnston family with former 100-year-old patriarch John Johnston a co-founder of the business taking the business back in 2018.
“Sadly, like many retailers, we have been heavily impacted by consumer confidence and spending due to the economic era of high inflation, rising interest rates, and intense cost of living pressures,” Mr Johnston’s daughter Jane Allen said on Tuesday.
“We are also still suffering from the unprecedented business disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.
The business has 141 stores across Australia and New Zealand and its 600 staff, with the voluntary administrators appointed to the failed retailer deciding that around 54 stores will close within the next two weeks with the loss of 193 staff of which 171 are in Australia.
At this stage it’s not known whether any other retailer will move to buy the business with insiders claiming, “it’s doubtful as our competitors are already selling a lot of the same products that Godfrey’s does”.
Craig Crosbie, Robert Ditrich and Daniel Walley of PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia have been appointed as voluntary administrators of the Australian entities. John Fisk and Stephen White of PwC New Zealand have been appointed voluntary administrators over the New Zealand subsidiary.
The administrators will continue to trade the Godfreys business while undertaking an immediate operational restructure and sale process.
Godfreys’ director, Mr Grant Hancock, said: “While the decision to appoint administrators was difficult, it was made with the best interests of Godfreys’ employees, customers and broader stakeholders in mind.”
The first meeting of creditors will be held on February 9.
Ms Allen said that after a proud trading history, spanning more than 90 years, the Godfreys Group was “deeply saddened” to announce it had made the “very difficult decision” to appoint voluntary administrators.
Gary Mortimer, a retail expert and professor at Queensland University of Technology, told the Daily Mail that vacuum cleaner company Godfreys was left ‘exposed’ because it’s a ‘niche retailer’, a consumer behaviour expert has said, following the business’ plunge into administration
‘If you’re a niche retailer selling vacuums, ultimately you need to have some form of exclusive arrangements with leading brands, such as Dyson for example, and that becomes your underpinning value proposition in the market.’
Mr Mortimer said Godfreys was selling a variety of brands that were also readily available online and in other department stores like Target, Big W and JB Hi-Fi.
‘When shoppers see the same brands across multiple channels, it ultimately comes down to price,’ he said.
‘You’re dealing with very big retailers against a niche retailer and without some sort of exclusivity, it becomes very difficult to compete in a marketplace.’log post.
