Kogan.com.au was recently fined $350,000 – a drop in the ocean for the ecommerce giant – for misleading ads for discounts, but the retailer is still a mega success story from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company reached a staggering market capitalisation rise of $1.5 billion since March 2020 and a gross sales increase of 95% in the three months to June 30, with shares jumping from a low of $3.79 to $18.04 on Monday’s close.
And during an interview at the Australian Financial Review Innovation Summit 2020, recent rich-lister Ruslan Kogan says he is not threatened by the deteriorating diplomatic relations between Australia and China and the consequences it could have on consumer electronics trade and supply.
Ruslan said his business does not rely too heavily on one country or trade partner, a business model many other companies should aspire to.
“Our business is not centred around trade with any one partner or any one geography or any one country. We know that Australians want certain products and they need certain products, and we have a way to be able to get them to them in the most efficient manner possible,” Kogan told The AFR.
“Whether that be products sourced out of India or Vietnam or Taiwan or South Korea or China or Germany or Italy, where a lot of our products currently come from. It’s our supply chain and business model that enables the products to get into the customer’s hands as efficiently as possible.”
Kogan did not reveal the exact percentage of products his retailer sources from China.
The CEO and founder of the online retailer also revealed COVID-19 has forced his business to increase staff by around 35%.
“We now have an engineering team in Poland, which we haven’t had prior to the last nine months,” he added.
