While online sales in New Zealand have been booming during the pandemic, direct-to-consumer brand Wet & Forget has found physical stores are still dominating its trade. 

Despite the pandemic, Wet & Forget opened two new stores last year – in Mount Eden and on the Kapiti Coast – taking its network to 21. Another new store, its location yet to be confirmed, is scheduled this year. 

GM of New Zealand retail, Dave Hookey, says the home-grown household cleaning brand is proof that brick-and-mortar stores “still bring in the bacon” despite the trend to online. He attributes this to the availability of in-store teams to help customers face-to-face, and offer specialist advice on products.

“It gives us the opportunity to explain how to use the products properly, offer tips and tricks and also engage at a deeper level, with customers often suggesting products or uses for products through their own experiences,” he says. “It’s a really nice connection we have with our customers that we just couldn’t achieve ‘virtually’.

The result is that sales through physical stores far outperformed those online for the company, which observed a strong sense of DIY culture during lockdowns “and a flurry of activity once restrictions eased”. 

“Kiwis appeared to put the extra time at home to good use – sprucing up their properties for the spring and summer seasons and investing in Wet & Forget products to get the job done,” he said.

Wet & Forget started out with one small factory store in the Auckland suburb of Albany in 2003 and has now expanded nationwide, maintaining a policy of selling directly to its customers, rather than through third-party retail channels as its rivals do.