Myer banks on Christmas after flat first quarter

Myer is banking on new in-store activity, a strong brand campaign and the approach of the busiest retail period to push sales above the largely flat results issued in a quarterly sales update today.

Myer Holdings reports first quarter total sales to the end of October were up a marginal 0.1% to $691.6 million. The department store noted that the best-performing areas of the business were cosmetics – namechecking the brand Benefit in particular – toys, where it noted strong sales of Lego, and a number of other brands including Piper, Bobbi Brown, Trent Nathan, R.M. Williams, Nike, and Rodd & Gunn.

Myer Chief Executive Officer Bernie Brookes said: “We believe the business is well positioned to make the most of the busiest time of the year during Christmas and the Stocktake sale.”

Brookes pointed to the new developments as intrinsic to the success of the Christmas retail period. He added, “There are a number of significant initiatives that have been rolled out during recent months including the customised iPads in stores, the launch of Giftorium, and just recently the exciting re-launch of the Myer brand. We look forward to the completion of the major refurbishment of the Miranda (NSW) store later in November and the opening of our new store at Joondalup (WA) on 20 November 2014.”

Myer has turned 37,000 square metres of space across its network over to a new in-store Christmas pop-up called Giftorium, which it says will “bring back fun and theatre to Christmas shopping.” The roll-out coincides with a new advertising campaign and brand positioning under the banner “Find Wonderful” which has been activated across TV, online, print, cinema and outdoor.

This morning the company booked a take-over across the entire Sydney Morning Herald website to push Christmas retailing.

Myer’s latest push coincides with four refurbishments and store openings in Indooroopilly (QLD), Adelaide (SA), and Macquarie (NSW) and Mt Gravatt (QLD) in October.