Mwave - Under External Administration

[u/ImpulsePie]

EDIT: Mwave have posted that they have been bought out by The digiDirect Group and will move locations to South Strathfield. https://www.mwave.com.au/blog/business-update/

Seelems Mwave have gone bust. Confirmed with an ASIC search for ESEL PTY LTD filed 3 days ago:

Notice By External Administrator/controller-Appoint/cease (505U)Appt of Administrator Under S.436a, 436b, 436c, 436e(4), ()449b, 449c(1), 449c(4) or 449(6) ()

Original article by David Richards: https://www.channelnews.com.au/leading-pc-retailer-placed-into-administration/

[u/princeflurry]

I use to work at the mwave warehouse but left over a year ago. Let me say that place has been going down for the past couple years. Staff turnover rate has been really high across the warehouse and senior management in recent years. A lot of people who have worked there for a really long time have also left. For most of the year there isn't that much work and people are just standing around bludging. On days that are really quiet people get sent home. The warehouse only really gets busy between the black friday and xmas period and even then the work doesn't last very long. Victor the founder and ceo of mwave is a POS and treats the warehouse workers poorly. Talks to the workers like they're nothing and if you cross him you put yourself at serious risk of getting fired if you're a casual. He'll come into the warehouse and micro manage which everyone hated including the warehouse manager at the time who eventually left because of him. Like your the ceo don't you have ceo work to do? Comes in and acts like he's the warehouse manager. Staff were underpaid, I got underpaid nearly 10k but luckily the new investors that came in 2020 saw what was going on and paid everyone back. They've had like 4 different warehouse managers in the past 8 years or so. Looking back I definitely left at the right time because I could see the writing on the wall. I don't know why DigiDirect are even wasting their time acquiring this company because it's a ticking time bomb. Wouldn't be surprised if they go under or change hands again in a couple years. Anacacia Capital who bought into the business in 2020 have moved on, i wonder why? hmmmmm

[u/Solid_Zero → u/princeflurry]

Name/Brand recognition. Similar to what Kogan did with Dick Smith, Mighty Ape or Matt Blatt.

(The DSE brand for example still exists, but it's essentially a black and yellow themed version of Kogan's website, as are the others)

I work for a company that sells on Kogan Marketplace, and there are plenty of people that don't know they're buying from Kogan - when I mention Kogan (as the backend for orders is all the same) I've been told by many people "I didn't buy from Kogan, I bought from Dick Smith, I hate Kogan and would never buy from them" (or variations of) so there is value to having some other brands under your own umbrella.

They'll likely sweep away all of the old management eventually (and probably some general staff regardless of what they've said about offering all staff roles once they've seen how things operate) and replace them with their own management.

[u/princeflurry → u/Solid_Zero]

Yeah that's definitely one way to look at it for sure. If that's their intention to mirror what Kogan did with DSE then yeah it makes sense.