Myer battles theft, banks on new brands to drive sales

afr.com:

Outgoing Myer chief executive John King is banking on the growing base of younger shoppers joining its Myer One loyalty scheme, and is confident introducing brands owned by The Country Road Group will drive sales this year to offset the consumer slowdown.

Sales were down 1.9 per cent in the first six weeks of the new financial year, Myer said on Thursday.

Myer CEO John King will step down next year and the Myer board is working with Egon Zehnder to find a replacement. 

The $517 million company was unable to replicate its solid start to the 2023 financial year, as sales in the second half ground to a halt.

“Like all retailers, we continue to remain cautious about the macroeconomic environment. However, we are pleased with our strong results at the half and the full year, and have a strong program of deliverables to roll out in FY24 as part of our customer-first plan,” Mr King said.

Mr King told investors on a call that despite the headwinds, Myer would focus on profitable sales only: “We will not chase unprofitable sales.”

Country Road’s addition in stores and online “will provide significant positive impact to our business in the coming years”.

Mr King warned Myer was battling higher theft rates, which rose to 1.8 per cent of sales from 1.3 per cent a year ago. This equates to a further $16 million in lost stock taking shrinkage to $47 million for the year. Its fiscal 2023 margin decreased by 189 basis points to 36.4 per cent.

“It’s definitely way worse than it was before COVID,” Mr King said about theft. “We’re starting to see some improvement… and some early signs, where we’re focusing in on particularly organised crime element of it.”

Myer is not alone in stepping up its scrutiny of stealing. It was a problem observed