[1] An online retail site trading as Big Brown Box was launched by Thorn Group Limited (owners of brands including Radio Rentals and Rentlo) in November 2008.
[4] At the time, company leaders were confident of its success in the competitive online market, but made it clear they were not pursuing a discounting war strategy, and would take a "sensible and easy approach".
[2] In the same report, Thorn Group managing director, John Hughes, was quoted as saying: "Big Brown Box is really starting to gain some momentum and it is great to see a good steady increase in sales together with very positive customer feedback, particularly from those people in regional areas.
In November 2010, the Thorn Group announced it would exit the online venture BigBrownBox.com.au in early 2011 due to difficult trading conditions and the poor state of the retail market.
John Winning, CEO of white goods retailer Appliances Online, purchased the digital asset for Big Brown Box.