The Warehouse brings e-commerce to Stratford with TheMarket through Farm Source

TheMarket is the group's first significant investment into world of e-commerce. Photo / Supplied

The Warehouse isn't in Stratford, but the town is now a key location for The Warehouse Group.

Last week, The Warehouse Group launched a new online marketplace called TheMarket, investing $12 million to start the platform.

While Stratford shoppers have to trek out of town to shop at the bricks and mortar Warehouse stores, TheMarket has a pickup and return option for the town.

The Stratford Fonterra Farm Source store is one of 10 in the country to operate as a pick-up and return location for online shoppers.

The 10 stores chosen are all in towns where The Warehouse doesn't have a store.

Richard Allen, Farm Source group director, says the initiative brings benefits for the community and existing Farm Source customers as well as the online shoppers.

"For our Co-op, it means attracting more people to our stores, some of whom may not have shopped with us before. This gives us more opportunities to showcase our range of products and the many benefits of being a Farm Source customer. By increasing scale of purchasing, we can deliver more value back from the Co-op, and at virtually no additional cost.:

TheMarket has been under development since June last year. In additional to international brands, it will sell Torpedo7, Warehouse Stationery, The Warehouse and Noel Leeming inventory on the platform.

In total, more than 1500 brands wil feature on the platform, including CottonOn, SurfStitch, Bobux and Playpark from Karen Walker.