Ongoing scrutiny over the health of department store David Jones has likely buoyed an uplift in its website traffic in March 2026.
Data from Semrush shows that David Jones’ website traffic lifted by 33 per cent between February and March this year, from 3.95 million to 5.98 million, just overtaking Cotton On in the fashion e-commerce leaderboard. Cotton On pulled in 5.93 million website visits in March 2026.
The bump up in David Jones’ website traffic in March comes as media and the market share concerns over the future of the department store. That came amid reports in mid-March that David Jones was behind on its supplier payments.
Data from commercial credit agency CreditorWatch showed that David Jones has been paying its suppliers an average 16 days overdue compared to the industry average of seven days overdue.
In response, a David Jones spokesperson said the national retailer has been streamlining its operational and financial processes,
The spokesperson added that under its Vision 2025+ strategy, the department store has successfully delivered a $250 million transformation program across every part of the business “on time and within budget”.
This includes major store refurbishments, the launch of a mobile app, the evolution of its e-commerce platform and the launch of a new loyalty program.
“Customers are already seeing the benefits of these initiatives, which lay the foundation for long-term growth and shared success,” the spokesperson said.
“As part of this transformation, we are streamlining our operational and financial processes to build a stronger, more efficient, and more sustainable business model. This includes implementing a new supplier payment process within our Oracle finance system, enhancing our Purchase Order procedures, and updating our standard payment terms to reflect these improvements and enable continued investment in growth and innovation.”
Many of its major partners have reportedly already agreed to the streamlined payments approach, with further discussions underway.
Two weeks later, it was reported that David Jones was also in the middle of finalising a $150 million refinancing deal – an initiative that is also being undertaken by Kathmandu and Rip Curl owner KMD Brands.
Alongside this, it is believed David Jones is also late on filing its 2025 financial report with ASIC. Companies must submit these within four months of their financial year-end. As an Australian-owned company, David Jones should have submitted this by the end of October 2025.
The national retailer was late on sharing its FY24 financial report, and eventually submitted it on March 31, 2025.
David Jones aside, Semrush data also shows that Myer is back on top of the fashion online retail leader leaderboard, seeing nearly 14 million visitors to its website in March 2026. Shopify’s shop.app is very close behind at 13.3 million.
The Iconic remains in third place, with 9.5 million and Shein in fourth place at 6.8 million. David Jones is at fifth place.