NATIONAL: David Jones today stated a clear intent to boost its digital communication and marketing presence by increasing its email database and exploring the expansion of a three to five-year e-tail operation plan.
The initiative, announced this morning, has been consolidated with the appointment of Georgia Chewing as the retailer's head of digital marketing and e-tail business. Chewing was previously the group's marketing general manager.
The news coincides with a statement David Jones made to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) announcing its fourth quarter sales revenue for the 2009 financial year. The Sydney-headquartered group said the results were better than anticipated with total sales revenue of $512.3 million for the period April 26 to July 25.
This figure represents a 0.6 per cent growth on a total sales basis compared to the same period last year, however on a like-for-like basis the result was down 1.2 per cent.
The company achieved total annual sales of $1.98 billion for the 2009 financial year, down 5.3 per cent on the 2008 financial year, or down 6.9 per cent in like-for-like comparison.
The listed group reported a positive shift in trading performance throughout May and June.
David Jones CEO Mark McInnes said he was pleased with the result, taking into consideration the company did not repeat the one-off clearence of excess inventory undertaken in July 2008.
David Jones Group General Manager of Apparel, Cosmetics and Accessories Colette Garnsey said better than expected sales for urban fashion brand Industrie contributed to the results. The brand joined the department store in February.