NATIONAL: Once upon a time, department store David Jones had one foe. Now a new report from Macquarie Research Equities suggested Myer had taken a back seat as public enemy number one.
Analysts at the research firm claimed David Jones and electrical goods giant Harvey Norman were locked in a battle for the discretionary consumer dollar.
The report, titled 'David Jones/Harvey Norman: Who gets what share of wallet?', noted after funding essential services such as rent, health and transport and staple goods such as food and basic clothing, consumers would have little else to spare over the 2009/10 financial year.
"The consumer may have sufficient funds to grow the non-food retail sales pool by just 1.1 per cent in the 2009/10 financial year. With so many competing retail formats and brands, competition is intense."
The report argued while some players boasted high brand awareness, it would be stores, merchandise and service that dictated sales performance. Perceived retail value would also play a role in retail brand preference.
"The combination of a relatively high average spend and high perceived value means that consumers will be far less inclined to visit a department stores like David Jones and to a lesser extend Myer, relative to a discount department specialty store like Target," the report noted.
"Harvey Norman will be similarly affected given that like department stores, it has a relatively high average purchase price and discretion level."
Macquarie Research Equities was a division of finance and banking giant Macquarie.