GraysOnline aims to be Australia's Amazon

Nothing sums up the aspirations of the fast-growing auction business GraysOnline quite like its recent Project Murray.

The codename for the group's recent move to offering fixed-price sales to complement its existing internet auctions was in sly reverence to the US virtual store Amazon.com, which GraysOnline chief executive Cameron Poolman considers to be the best in the business.

"We called it Project Murray because we see ourselves as the little Aussie Amazon," he told.

"And we think that we can position ourselves as the Australian Amazon."
With the concept of e-commerce and online retailing still relatively immature in this country, GraysOnline has experienced rapid growth in the nine years since evolving from a traditional auction business into running online auctions.

Over the past 18 months, the auction site has benefited from a steady increase in business resulting from a rising number of corporate collapses and personal bankruptcies.

Earlier this month an extensive private collection of fine wine and champagne, boasting dozens of bottles of Veuve Cliquot, Bollinger, Krug, Moet & Chandon and Penfolds Grange, went under the hammer.

The five-day sale fetched the owner, who had been experiencing financial hardship, about $150,000.

And just last week GraysOnline recorded its biggest sale: a 52-foot Ocean Alexander Flybridge Cruiser, which sold for $764,000, after attracting bidders from several states.

"What we've seen is a large increase in personal bankruptcies," Mr Poolman said.
"Individuals who've gone out and purchased Ferraris and boats and found themselves unable to make the repayments. These guys have been working in an environment where they're not getting the bonuses they were paid before.

"We went through a period six months ago where we saw a 30 to 40 per cent increase in those luxury items."

Yet the downturn has had little effect on the demand for products, Mr Poolman said.
So far, sales are up a further 20 per cent on the same period last year. The business has no debt.

GraysOnline started running its own fixed-price sales about three months ago. The method now accounts for about 10 per cent of all sales, and is expected to increase, particularly in the rapidly expanding wine category.