Outgoing Myer CEO John King on why Black Friday might overtake Christmas

At Myer’s annual general meeting this week, outgoing CEO John King predicted that trading activity on Black Friday would likely surpass Christmas, with the department store preparing stock ahead of time to mitigate any logistical delays related to potential industrial action.

This year’s AGM occurred at a time of significant management change at Myer, as King, JoAnne Stephenson, who is chairperson of the board, and Nigel Chadwick, the retailer’s CFO, are all scheduled to depart their roles in the coming months.

This prompted Myer’s biggest shareholder Premier Investments, chaired by Solomon Lew, to issue a statement that expressed support for the board refresh, while also voicing concerns about the number of changes occurring over a short period of time.

“We are concerned that the chairman, CEO and CFO have all indicated their intention to step down from their respective roles over the next six months. These are the three key leadership roles in the business. It is both rare and concerning to see these key roles turnover in such close proximity.” a spokesperson for Premier Investments said.

“Given these highly unusual circumstances and the current economic environment, we are hopeful that the Myer board will update the company’s shareholders on current performance and expectations for the remainder of the financial year.”

Myer director Ari Mervis will succeed Stephenson as chairperson, while Chadwick, who plans to retire early next year, will be replaced by deputy CFO, Matt Jackson. The department store is currently in the process of searching for a new CEO.

Meanwhile, during the AGM, questions were raised about incoming director Olivia Wirth’s role as chief executive of Qantas Loyalty – with the airline facing significant brand and reputational damage in recent months.

“There has been a period where Qantas has let down its customers, and we apologise for that. [But] I’m here to talk about the role I believe I can play at Myer, given my significant background and experience,” Wirth said.

Wirth has announced her resignation from Qantas, effective February 2024.

Macroeconomic headwinds

Myer’s strong performance over the 2023 financial year was reflected by a 12.5 per cent increase in total sales to $3.36 billion, its best result in almost two decades.

The department store also reported a $120 million cash surplus – an improvement from its $39 million deficit in 2019.

This result is partly driven by its Myer One loyalty program, which has amassed 7.3 million members, up 10 per cent year on year. However, macroeconomic conditions have affected Myer’s start to the 2024 financial year.

Comparable sales dropped by almost two per cent for the first six weeks of FY24, and by 0.2 per cent over the next six weeks. Overall sales were down by 0.9 per cent between July 30 and October 28.

Other activity reported by Myer included the return of the Country Road Group to the Myer portfolio, announced in January following Woolworth Holdings’ sale of the David Jones department-store business, as well as plans to scale its national distribution centre over the next few years.

Major refurbishments are also set to be completed in the first half of 2024 across Myer’s Chermside, Tea Tree Plaza, Marion, and Ballarat locations, while its Christmas window will launch this weekend.

King noted that broader economic factors have impacted the wider retail environment.

“While we’ve seen improvement for the last seven weeks of the quarter [we] remain very cautious of these macroeconomic headwinds, especially with interest rate rises this week, and continue to retain a strong focus on sales, cash and costs,” King said.

“We are well placed for the Christmas and Black Friday peak, which we believe will be even bigger that Christmas [and] have strong plans in place to capitalise on customer demand.”

Meanwhile, Stephenson explained that Myer, as well as the Myer community fund, did not make any financial contribution or donations to either side of The Voice referendum campaign, and that the department store did not take an official position on the referendum.

Rather, she said that it encouraged employees to stay well-informed on the matter.

Cybersecurity checks and balances

Reflecting on the Optus outage earlier this week, which saw millions of Australians lose telecommunication access, Stephenson said that Myer had been focused on shoring up its cybersecurity systems.

Meanwhile, Chadwick explained that the department store would deploy multi-factor authentication systems into its Myer One systems, and that it has robust backup systems in place across its communication lines and customer data centres. But, he said that there’s always more that can be done in this space.

“As quickly as we can move, the people perpetuating frauds are moving just quickly,” Chadwick said.

King added that Myer is testing “doomsday scenarios” around telecommunications disruptions ahead of peak period.

“I think our systems and checks and balances are robust enough for us to get through,” King said.

The post Outgoing Myer CEO John King on why Black Friday might overtake Christmas appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.