Coco Republic Expands Into New Zealand

After almost 40 years in business, upmarket furniture brand Coco Republic is set to open the doors to its first ever international store in New Zealand mid-year.

The 1000sqm store will be located within Westfield Newmarket, the brand’s second shopping centre location.

“I think we’ve got a very steady approach to growth, and we’re really now in a position that when a unique and compelling proposition presents itself such as this one, we’re not forcing our growth, we’re just taking advantage of those opportunities,” Coco Republic’s CEO Nicholas Foster told.

According to Foster, the Newmarket site brings together the best of Coco Republic’s destination and boutique offerings. This will include the brand’s chic in-store cafe, L’Americano.

“Newmarket is going to be incredibly convenient for our core customer demographic in Auckland,” he said.

“We’ve also secured a site that gives us prime ground level frontage to Broadway, the main arterial road through Newmarket and having a large footprint in that centre will allow us to curate a range of over 300 products to be showcased in that facility. We’re also going to take the food and beverage into that environment.”

For the last few years, Foster says the furniture brand has focused on several key areas of the business, including investing in in-house design and sourcing teams and attracting talented local interior designers.

Coco Republic has also been working on offering customers an elevated in-store experience.

“We’re focused on delivering a unique and inspiring retail experience, where customers come into our showrooms and enjoy being part of the experience. That’s where we’ve also invested in food and beverage in L’Americano, particularly for our larger design centres,” Foster explained.

“People often come in half a day or a whole day and get inspired and work out their design solutions and enjoy the extension by having a light lunch or a coffee.”

“We’ve been on an exciting growth strategy over the last few years. We’re a premium aspirational design services brand but we’ve consciously focused on ensuring that we remain accessible from a customer’s perspective.”

The business has also spent some time investing in its supply chain to increase its speed to market. There is a new 11,000sqm logistics hub in the Quarry in Greystanes too, which will form the basis of logistics for Coco Republic, sister brand Max Sparrow and New Zealand distribution.