The newly appointed chief executive officer of womenswear retailer Cue has earmarked 2010 as a year of consolidation, following a spate of aggressive retail rollouts.
The privately owned clothing company, which operates midmarket chains Cue and Veronika Maine, appointed David Kesby to the executive position late last year. Kesby has been with the company for 17 years and was promoted from the role of general manager, which he had occupied since 2003.
He confirmed only four new stores were planned for the new year, including a return to Pitt Street with the redevelopment of Westfield Sydney.
“After a few years of aggressive new rollouts, 2010 will see us consolidate where we are at,” he said. “As I mentioned at our state managers conference just recently, if we can fix our worst performing ten stores that will give us a much larger return than continual expansion.”
The company currently operates 215 stores across both the Veronika Maine and Cue brands, with sites across Australia and New Zealand and concessions in department stores David Jones and Myer respectively. The business had just 40 sites when Kesby first joined in January 1993, assuming a management account role where he analysed the performance of its retail stores.
He was appointed as financial controller in 1997 before taking on the position of chief financial officer in 2000. Kesby was promoted to general manager just three years later. He said one of the most challenging tasks in his career was converting Veronika Maine from a wholesale business to a vertical retail operation. This included negotiating an exclusive supply agreement with David Jones.
“An early highlight was overseeing the rollout of computers into [Cue and Veronika Maine] stores for the first time and the information that gave us to improve the business,” he said.
“Seeing the growth year on year is very rewarding.”
A long term goal for the company is to ensure its products are predominantly Australian made, Kesby said. As reported in the previous edition of Ragtrader, Cue was recently accredited under Ethical Clothing Australia, formerly known as the Homeworkers Code of Practice.
“We work closely with the [unions] and...value having an ethically Made in Australia supply chain as we find speed to market a key part of our success.”
Assia Benmedjdoub