Myer

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Myer
Type	Department Store
Founded	1900 in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
Headquarters	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Key people	Sidney Myer, Founder Bill Wavish, Chairman Bernie Brookes, CEO
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, homewares, electrical, furniture, general merchandise
Website	http://www.myer.com.au/

This article is about the Australian department store chain. For other uses, see Myer (disambiguation).

Myer is Australia's largest chain of department stores, retailing a broad range of merchandise including women's, men's and children's clothing, footwear and accessories; cosmetics and fragrance; homewares; electrical; furniture and bedding; toys; books and stationery; food and confectionery; and travel goods.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Target, Grace Bros and merger with GJ Coles 1.3 Myer leaves Coles Myer 1.4 Under new owners 2 Stores and services 2.1 "MYER one" rewards program 2.2 Myer store and credit cards 2.3 Store Locations 2.4 Online Shopping 2.5 Departments 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Sidney Myer and his brother opened the first Myer store in Bendigo, Victoria in 1900. After prospering, the second store opened in 1908. In 1911, Sidney Myer purchased a drapery store on Bourke Street, Melbourne and in the following years purchased adjoining properties, eventually building a store known as the Myer Emporium.

From its base in Melbourne, Myer built Australia's largest chain of department stores, and the only chain with stores in all Australian states.

Myer's growth involved developing its own stores (in the process becoming one of Australia's major property developers and owners) as well as acquiring other department stores, including Adelaide's Marshall's, Western Australia's Boans in 1984, Queensland's Barry and Roberts and in New South Wales they acquired Farmers & Co in 1961 and Grace Brothers in 1983. In Adelaide, the company Myer SA Stores Ltd began after acquiring a shareholding in Marshall's department store in 1925 and its shares continued to be listed on the Adelaide Stock Exchange until Myer Emporium Ltd made a successful takeover bid in 1966.

[edit] Target, Grace Bros and merger with GJ Coles

In 1968, Myer acquired Geelong's Lindsay's stores, renaming the business Target following the purchase of name and logo from US Target Corporation and positioning it as a discount department store chain.

In 1983, Grace Bros. bought Myer NSW, and then in July of that year Myer acquired Grace Bros. Holdings Ltd. The Myer store on Market and Pitt Sts in Sydney became the main Grace Bros. store.

In 1985 the Myer Emporium (and Target, its discount department store) merged with GJ Coles & Coy forming Coles Myer Limited, then Australia's largest retailer. Myer remained a distinct entity within the new corporate structure until it was sold in 2006.

On February 13, 2004, Grace Bros. stores were rebranded as Myer. ^[1]

In April 2004, Myer re-opened its Bondi Junction, New South Wales, store which replaced a former Grace Bros. store closed in April 2002 to make way for the redevelopment of Westfield Bondi Junction. It was the first Myer store to open in several years and incorporated new features such as white glossy floor tiles, extensive use of glass, and greater use of mannequins.

Under managing director Dawn Robertson, Myer began to target the Sydney market more strongly, to challenge the position of chief rival David Jones particularly in ladies fashion. In February 2004, Myer held its Sydney fashion parade the day before David Jones. On August 9, 2004, Myer staged a fashion parade open-air in Martin Place, gaining widespread attention, and again was held the day before David Jones' show. ^[2]

[edit] Myer leaves Coles Myer

On August 17, 2005, Coles announced that within 12 months, it would decide to demerge, divest or retain Myer. Thirteen expressions of interest were made for all or part of Myer. ^[3]

On March 13, 2006, Coles Myer announced it would sell Myer to a consortium controlled by US private equity group Newbridge Capital, part of the Texas Pacific group. The consortium also included the Myer family, who held a 5% stake. The new owners, who also secured the freehold on the flagship Bourke Street store, indicated that they would not radically change the business, at least in the short term, and had no plans to redevelop the Bourke Street site as this would impact too heavily on profitability during the construction period. Texas Pacific also have interests in UK department store Debenhams and high-end US retailer Neiman Marcus. This sale was completed for $A1.4 bn on June 2, 2006. ^[4]

[edit] Under new owners

After being divested from Coles Myer (later Coles Group, then purchased by Wesfarmers), new owners Newbridge Capital and the Myer family appointed chairman Bill Wavish and chief executive Bernie Brookes, both formerly of Woolworths.

Beginning July 2006, Myer held a "History Making Clearance" to clear out excess stock deemed either unprofitable or unpopular, and reduced inventories from $1.5 billion to $750 million, and all store-specific warehouses were closed.^[5]

Former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins began appearing in campaigns for Myer in 2006 and in January 2007 signed a $4 million deal to be the "face" of Myer for four years.^[6]

Myer withdrew from the Coles Group part-owned FlyBuys rewards program on February 1, 2007.

In March 2007, Myer announced first half earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $123 million, an increase of 84% on the previous year. This represents a profit margin of 6.8%, compared with 3.9% in the previous corresponding period. According to chairman Bill Wavish, all Myer stores were now profitable, and all stores were more profitable than in the previous year. ^[7] Myer acquired four Harris Scarfe stores (including regaining a store it divested to Harris Scarfe in 1998) and took a minority shareholding in Harris Scarfe.

The Mymerch system, developed with IBM and Oracle, cost $99 million and was implemented early April 2007. Among other functions, Mymerch will beef up Myer's ability to carry out statistical analysis of customer habits giving it greater capacity to forecast sales trends and target promotions. ^[8]

Myer's profit turnaround was tempered in April 2007 by the loss of key staff. Bob Boutin, apparel director, Mark Bingemann, women's wear business manager and Jasmine Bingemann, footwear and accessories manager all resigned within a short period.^[9]. This followed reports of management dissatisfaction over the direction of the fashion business signified by the defection of designers such as Alex Perry and Tigerlilly and cosmetics brand ModelCo to David Jones. ^[10]

In June 2007, a consortium comprising the Myer family, Colonial First State and GIC Real Estate (Singapore) announced it would be purchasing Myer's Melbourne CBD store. The Bourke St part of the store is planned to be redeveloped by 2009, with Myer taking a 60-year lease. The Lonsdale Street part of the store will close, although Myer's overall retail floor space will decrease only slightly, from 46,000sq m to 42,000sq m.^[11]

[edit] Stores and services

[edit] "MYER one" rewards program

The MYER one program was introduced on August 2, 2004 after the cessation of the Coles Myer shareholder discount card on July 31, 2004.

It initially credited 1 point per $1 spent up to $2500 per annum; 1.5 points per $1 spent from $2500 to $5000 per annum; and 2 points per $1 spent for $5000+ per annum. Each 1,250 points accrued would earn the customer a $25 gift card, provided $1,500 was spent each year. With the relaunch of the Myer store card in November 2006, this changed to awards 2 points per $1 spent, regardless of annual spend, with 2,000 points required to receive a $20 gift card. Members who pay with a Myer store card receive an additional point per dollar spent. Selected MYER one members are sent a quarterly update, in addition to special member offers, including discounts, product samples and "gift with purchase" offers.

In September 2007, Myer stated that 1.6 million customers were MYER one members and 30,000 were joining each month. MYER one members accounted for 55% of all Myer sales, up from 43% when the company was bought from Coles Group in June 2006.^[12]

[edit] Myer store and credit cards

Myer originally had a store card managed by Australian Retail Financial Network (ARFN), later sold to GE Money. This was superseded by a Coles Myer Card which could be used at all Coles Myer stores. This was augmented by the Coles Myer Source MasterCard, also managed by GE Money.

Following its sale, Myer relaunched the Myer card in October 2006 in conjunction with GE Money. According to GE Money, 125,000 accounts had been opened by August, 2007. ^[13]

In November 2007, Myer launched a Visa credit card, also in conjunction with GE Money. Myer stated it was prepared to wear losses from the card for two years and that its objective was to drive increased loyalty from the card (which links with the Myer One card) rather than being profitable in its own right. It expected to sign 100,000 customers to the Visa card by November 2008.^[14] Myer reported it had signed 15,000 customers to its Visa card in the first five weeks from launch, half of whom were converts from the existing store card. ^[15]

In 2007, the Coles Myer Card and Coles Myer Source MasterCard were renamed Coles Group Card and Coles Group Source MasterCard respectively and as such were no longer affiliated with Myer.

[edit] Store Locations

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For full article see List of Myer stores

Myer has stores in all Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory. Stores are located in all the capital cities (except Darwin) and their suburbs, and selected country towns and cities.

In 2006, Myer announced it the opening of new stores, starting with four former Harris Scarfe stores (two in South Australia and two in Victoria). ^[16] Further to this, in 2007 in Sydney, Myer is taking over former David Jones stores in Sydney at Westfield Eastgardens and Centro Bankstown, and will open a store in the Stockland Townsville centre in early 2009.

Chairman Bill Wavish has said that Myer is willing to build new stores if necessary, and that new locations could be in any city or town with a population over 40,000 people. ^[17]

On 22 September 2007, Myer's Liverpool Street building in Hobart was destroyed by a fire that is believed to have started in the cosmetic section. Estimates placed the damage costs at $50 million for the building alone with many millions more for all the stock which was destroyed. The building including its historic façade was subsequently demolished. The adjacent Murray Street building suffered substantial smoke and water damage. Within a day of the fire, Myer issued a statement saying it would be rebuilding in Hobart. They reopened the Murray Street section of their store on November 16-44 days after the fire.^[18][19]. Myer also stated that they will build a new store that may take up to 3 years to build and will add 2,000 m² of space. Whilst that development is taking place in the damaged part of the store, Myer will be using a site in Macquarie Street for all homewares.

In November 2007, Myer announced it will open a store in the new Top Ryde shopping centre in northern Sydney in 2010. ^[20]

In April 2008, Myer announced that it will open 3 new stores in Qld. The first two stores will open in 2010 at Westfield Garden City - Upper Mount Gravatt, Robina Town Centre with the third store to open in Mackay in 2011. Myer also announced that it will open a store at Stockland Green Hills - East Maitland in 2011 when the redevelopment has completed^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Online Shopping

In October 2007, Myer launched an *online store allowing customers to browse and purchase from a range of gift-related products. Although the site is focused on Christmas-related gifts such as hampers, other products such as Apple iPods, gaming consoles and cosmetics are available.

[edit] Departments

Womenswear is usually prominently featured within each store and will often be the largest department. Myer carries various mass market labels in womenswear, with a selection of designer clothing available only in city stores. Petite (short) and plus sized clothing is kept in separate areas to regular sized clothing. There are a large number of concession stores that sell women's clothing.

Cosmetics, Fragrances & Personal Care has a higher expenditure on labour, as most counters require their own staff. Usually positioned at the main entrance to the store, most products are now on open-sell.

Menswear is usually located on a separate floor to womenswear, the labels carried lie much more in the mid range. Unlike womenswear, the department has areas devoted to Accessories, Business Shirts, Suits, Shoes and Underwear. Designer and concession brands are available in selected stores, as is formal hire.

Fashion Accessories houses women's handbags, scarves, hats, belts, purses/wallets, jewellery, hosiery, socks; women's & men's watches and sunglasses.

The range of men's and ladies' shoes carried varies by store. Designer shoe ranges are only available in limited stores.

Intimate Apparel section sells women's underwear, lingerie, sleepwear and gowns. Some staff are trained in fitting bras, and occasionally some underwear brands will have a fitter in store to give advice.

Homewares includes cookware, kitchenware, tabletop (crockery & cutlery), Manchester, glassware and napery. Usually extremely busy during sales, this department also contains the bridal registry.

Miss Shop and Men's Youth aimed at those in mid to late teens, Miss Shop tends to attract late teens to mid twenties, even into thirties. Different music to the rest of the store is played within these areas. There are also music videos showing either in fitting rooms or on the shop floor. Merchandising principles are relaxed from what is required in womenswear and menswear; and abstract fixtures and visual displays are often used. For example, items can be hung sideways on hangers, mannequins are sometimes dressed "messily" or clothes may be stacked on chairs and milk crates.

At the Melbourne City store, both these departments are located in "The Basement" and is much larger than in other stores, at almost 6,000m2.^[21] The staff are dressed casually to reflect the youth target market. There are also a small number of concession stores within this area. The concept has been expanded to selected stores - such as Warringah Mall, Chatswood, and in the new Murray Street store in Hobart, but generally on a smaller scale.

Childrenswear is separated into babywear, boyswear and girlswear, it caters up to ages 14-16, depending to the child's size. Children's shoes are also sold.

Electrical that was the subject of little focus under previous management, the electrical department is now more important to Myer. In 2006, Myer won iPod retailer of the year, being the largest seller in the Australia & New Zealand iPod market.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2004, Brazin Limited, which operates Virgin Megastores Australia, entered into an agreement with Myer to create Virgin entertainment locations in Myer stores. Under the agreement, Myer stock was acquired and Myer pre-recorded audio and video departments were re-branded to Virgin.

Myer operated its own direct mail order company, Myer Direct, from 1989 until its sale to Ezibuy in January 2002.

[edit] See also

• Grace Bros.
• Harris Scarfe

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Myer home page
• MYER one home page
• Myer Gifts Online Shop