Barely a day goes by without Sports Direct's founder Mike Ashley doing something that raises our eyebrows here at The Hawker. Now he appears to be launching a brand new web site.
Ashley and his firm have made a lot of hay over the last five or six years while the internet sun has shone. SportsDirect.com has been boosted by sales which have benefited to the top line sales growth of the UK business. But we also suspect that sales to overseas shoppers have helped inflate the business too (and informed his overseas stores acquisition plan).
So it came as no surprise when we learnt two of his directors Dave Forsey, Sports Direct's chief executive (although, let's be honest, we all know Ashley is the driving force behind the business) and Karen Buyers have registered a new company and domain name MegaValueDirect.com.
We hear they originally wanted MegaValue.com but it looks like that's already been registered by someone else.
One theory we've discussed with our retail market sources is this: after two or three years of bashing away at the higher price-point branded market (with USC and Republic - which have both had, let's say, mixed fortunes) and the premium branded market (which he trades in via upmarket outlets Cruise and Flannels), there's a desire within the business to turn back to what they're really good at.
Mike and Sports Direct have always been traders. That's not to say we haven't been impressed with what we've seen at the USC store on Oxford Street - but, like we say, the fortunes have been mixed and meaningful returns perhaps some way off. Piling it high and selling it cheap is where the company's heart and core-competency lies.
What exactly he's going to be flogging on MegaValueDirect.com, we don't know yet. Clothes presumably but will it stop there? With such a generic site name the possibilities are endless.
The other theory, and not as colourful but perhaps more likely, is that it will just serve as an outlet store for his and other retailers' products (he's already an investor in Aussie 'flash sale' and outlet site MySale).
And it couldn't be clearer what the MegaValueDirect.com site is offering in terms of price. As ever, we watch Mike Ashley's next move with interest.
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