Coomber fights fire with fire

MELBOURNE: Myer's recently appointed director of apparel, beauty, accessories and footwear will face an uphill battle in her attempt to recapture the department store's position as a leading fashion destination, retail experts have warned.

Judy Coomber, who was promoted from her former position as director of apparel earlier this month, has fired the first missive at rival store David Jones by announcing a radical reshuffle of Myer's supplier base. Five international designer brands have already been announced for the spring/summer 2008 season including Robert Rodrigues, Theory, Moschino Cheap & Chic, Vivienne Westwood Red Label and Armani Jeans.

The latter will be progressively rolled out in concept areas across Melbourne and Sydney, as Myer's refurbishment program enters into the next phase. Middle-market womenswear brand Seduce would also be introduced across 30 Myer stores in an attempt to cater to a broader segment of consumers, Coomber said.

On another reshuffle front, Australian womenswear label Gorman and swimwear brand Jets have exited the department store under a storm of controversy, with both parties alleging the move was not initiated by Myer as detailed in its market statement. Coomber alleged both brands no longer suited the department store's business criteria.

"We're still working on a number of great opportunities with local and international designer brands," Coomber said. "From our point of view, we want to have strong relationships with slightly fewer brands. That said, it will be a progressive streamlining of our portfolio - we do not want to tear away our supplier base."

Under its new private equity management structure, the department store aims to cut costs by reducing the number of suppliers and increasing its private label offering to 15 to 20 per cent of sales by 2009/10. Coomber said the challenge Myer faced as it moved towards its growth phase (2010 to 2014) was consolidating its footwear, accessories and apparel division to create a stronger brand message.

"We're feeling very excited about getting the range right and reinforcing one end of the market without excluding the other," Coomber said. "The value-end is not our positioning - we're about targeting the right market at the right price and catering for customers who want a $2000 black dress or a $200 dress."

Australian Retail Services consultant Roger Sayers said the challenge for Coomber was to break free of Myer's broad middle-market positioning and target more "aspirational" tiers.

"Myer can and should still aspire to that upper middle market positioning without deserting its core market," he said. "The new owners have inherited the mistakes of the past, where volume merchandising and a lack of discipline with ranging saw the department store associated with discounting. Discounting has and always will be the poor retailers form of marketing." 

Sayers said the recent "failure" of former Myer executive Dawn Robertson in the American apparel market highlighted the potential perils of merchandise selection. Robertson, who was appointed as president of value retailer Old Navy in October 2006, left the company after 16 months with many industry speculators attributing the fall to, among other things, poor merchandising.

Australian Centre for Retail Studies program director Andrew Cavanagh said Coomber's latest strategy should help Myer to recapture its aspirational fashion market share, but that it had a "lot of hard work" to do to make up for lost ground. Cavanagh said the department store's decision to purse the volume end market in the late 1990s saw many well-known design labels deleted from its store.

"It also involved changing the look of their stores and the ranges they had," he said. "This significantly changes the traditional perception of Myer as a leading fashion house. When Dawn Robertson was in charge, she introduced several US house brands but this did little to change the perception of position for customers."

According to a story in The Australian, designer sales were reportedly already on their way up at Myer following an "aggressive" sourcing campaign by Coomber. The article credited Coomber for enlisting leading local designers such as Josh Goot, Jayson Brunsdon and Camilla and Marc.Cavanagh said these initiatives were a step in the right direction.

"Judy's plan should help to move Myer closer to David Jones's position, I just hope they have the will to see the plan through," he said. "They have a lot of hard work to do to recapture the ground that was lost in the last 10 years."

By Assia Benmedjdoub