US label Brooks Brothers has begun setting up its Australian retail network.
Department store David Jones today confirmed it has secured the brand on a department store exclusive basis, which will see the first locations of Brooks Brothers' Australian stores roll out.
David Jones said seven Brooks Brothers concept stores, nationally, are currently scheduled to open in FY14.
The development follows an announcement from the company earlier this week that it had also secured iconic brand Hugo Boss on a department store exclusive basis.
Current David Jones CEO Paul Zahra added that the company also has a string of planned initiatives in motion ahead of the critical Christmas trading period.
“I am pleased to report that we have introduced a number of new merchandise initiatives for the all important Christmas trading period. We have partnered with Harrods to offer customers the famous Harrods Christmas Hampers and we are establishing the world’s first Liberty (UK) pop-up areas in our Elizabeth Street (NSW) and Bourke Street Mall (Vic) stores. These pop-up areas will stock gift items featuring the hugely popular signature Liberty print,” he said.
“Next week to coincide with the launch of our new 'Wow' Christmas campaign I will commence a nationwide store review to ensure we are well prepared, across all of our sales channels, for the Christmas and clearance trading periods. Our new 'Wow' Christmas campaign was developed in collaboration with renowned filmmaker, illustrator and producer Quentin Jones and will be launched across TV, print advertising, catalogues and digital forums.”
David Jones also reported that it has achieved a total sales revenue of $424.2 million for the first quarter of the 2014 financial year – a 2.1 per cent lift compared to 2013.
Like-for Like (LFL) basis sales revenue was down 0.3 per cent, however, excluding the significant disruption impact of the Canberra Centre store refurbishment, LFL Sales for the quarter were up 0.6 per cent.
On a state-by-state basis, New South Wales and Victoria (including the new Highpoint and Malvern Central stores) were the company’s strongest performing States. The ACT delivered the weakest sales performance due to the disruption resulting from the Canberra Centre store refurbishment.
According to Zahra, online sales for the department store to date have also increased by over 1,000 per cent for the first quarter of the current financial year.
As previously reported on ragtrader.com.au, Oroton signed a joint venture agreement with American brand Brooks Brothers in August 2013, in a bid to turn its fortunes since the end of its license partnership with Ralph Lauren.
Oroton holds a 51 per cent majority in the new agreement, which is intended to run for an initial term of 10 years and with a five-year renewal option.
As part of the deal, Oroton said at the time that four to eight stores would open at the beginning of 2014, along with an online store and a potential move into department store concessions.