‘Cop them on the chin’: Kogan ready to move past inventory mistakes

Ruslan Kogan says his online marketplace Kogan.com is ready to move on from mistakes made on inventory levels in the thick of the pandemic as the company chases frugal shoppers amid a cost-of-living crunch.

Kogan has swung to a statutory loss of $35.5 million for 2022 and its adjusted earnings declined to $18.9 million as the company dealt with excess inventory levels and holding costs throughout the year. The adjusted loss figure is $2.9 million.

Kogan said the company had bet incorrectly that the trend of surging sales in the first year of the pandemic would continue, leading the company to expand its range and inventory footprints more than necessary.

“We made some wrong decisions, we’ll cop them on the chin, fix them and move forward,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

The platform returned to profitability in the last quarter of the year, and Kogan hopes cost of living pressures will now drive more shoppers to the site as they embark on detailed research on the best prices for purchases.

“Whereas they might have [previously] splashed on big brands, when things tighten up they will compare and research,” he said.

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“The more customers that are being frugal, that’s when our business shines.”

The company told investors on Tuesday it was now focused on operational efficiency and has taken steps to reduce costs including reducing the range of underperforming product categories.