RETAIL TRADE – AUSTRALIA

Falling $A bolsters Bookworld’s fight against Amazon

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 10-Apr-15

IBISWorld estimates that sales of books online have risen by 26 per cent annually over the last five years, compared with a five per cent-plus annual decline in retail book sales over the same period. Bookworld has benefited from the Australian dollar’s 18 per cent fall against its US counterpart in the last eight months, as it has made the online bookseller’s prices more competitive against offshore rivals. Bookworld now boasts about 1.5 million registered customers

CORPORATES
BOOKWORLD, ANGUS AND ROBERTSON PTY LTD, BORDERS GROUP INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, THE BOOK DEPOSITORY LIMITED, DYMOCKS BOOKSELLERS PTY LTD, IBISWORLD PTY LTD, REDGROUP RETAIL PTY LTD, PEARSON GROUP PLC, RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA, SAP AG, BOOKTOPIA PTY LTD

Retailers locked out of Apple Watch deals

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Original article by Madeleine Heffernan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 10-Apr-15

Telsyte MD Foad Fadaghi estimates that about 300,000 Apple Watches could be sold in just one week. The product will be available to pre-order in Australia from 10 April 2015, and it will be sold exclusively in Apple stores and via the Apple website from 24 April. However, it is uncertain as to when or if other retailers will stock the smartwatch

CORPORATES
APPLE INCORPORATED, TELSYTE PTY LTD, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, DICK SMITH HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX DSH, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW

Harvey Norman cooking with gas as housing booms

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Original article by Madeleine Heffernan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 9-Apr-15

Australian retail sales topped $A24bn in February 2015. Sales were 0.7 per cent higher than in January, and 0.4 per cent higher than the same period in 2014. UBS is upbeat about the outlook for homewares and furniture retailer Harvey Norman, due to its exposure to the residential property market. However, UBS has "sell" recommendations on grocery groups Woolworths and Metcash

CORPORATES
HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, INDEPENDENT GROCERS OF AUSTRALIA, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIAN BUFFALO INDUSTRY COUNCIL

Woolworths advised to cut everyday prices in grocery war

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 7-Apr-15

Price competition between Woolworths, Coles and IGA is escalating. UBS states in a new report that the level of intensity in competition between Australian supermarket chains is rising, which suggests that an all-out price war is likely to erupt. UBS advises Woolworths to protect its market share by reducing the prices of popular products and cutting the number of products on promotion

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED, INDEPENDENT GROCERS OF AUSTRALIA, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, ENERGIZER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CADBURY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, KIRKS FINE FOODS, ALBERT HEIJN, KONINKLIJKE AHOLD NV, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, SAFEWAY INCORPORATED, KROGER COMPANY, TESCO PLC, J SAINSBURY PLC, ASDA GROUP PLC, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Mixed bag for Easter retailers

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 7-Apr-15

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman notes that some retailers in Sydney chose to trade on 6 April 2015, despite the public holiday. Restaurateur Mark Scanlan opened one of his three Sydney restaurants on Easter Monday. He has described penalty rates for working on public holidays as "prohibitive", and has called for workplace law reform

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, GARFISH, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, RESTAURANT AND CATERING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Myer defends timing of downgrade

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Original article by Madeleine Heffernan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 25-Mar-15

Myer Holdings’ disclosure practices came under scrutiny after its 2014-15 full-year earnings forecast was reduced by up to 24 per cent. Critics have argued that the group should have advised of the earnings downgrade when it revealed management changes several weeks earlier. However, Myer has told the ASX that its directors did not become aware that full-year profits would be lower than expected until the day before its interim results were released

CORPORATES
MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Premier Investments in fight to get the right lease deals

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Original article by Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 40 : 24-Mar-15

Australian-listed Premier Investments boasts more than 1,000 retail stores. The group’s rent bill for the first half of 2014-15 rose by 6.7 per cent to $A99.3m. CEO Mark McInnes notes that this accounted for 20 per cent of its sales revenue. He says Premier is prepared to close stores if landlords are not willing to offer the market rent when leases are renewed. The group closed a Just Jeans store in Melbourne as a result

CORPORATES
PREMIER INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX PMV, JUST JEANS PTY LTD, JAY JAY’S JEANS WAREHOUSE PTY LTD, PORTMANS PTY LTD, JACQUI E PTY LTD, DOTTI

Online shopping on the rise for most retail categories

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Mar-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 7,630,000 Australians aged 14+ bought at least one product online in an average four weeks during the year to December 2014. This compares with 5,704,000 in 2011. The survey also shows that 1,586,000 Australians bought food and beverages online in 2014, compared with 568,000 in 2011. Likewise, some 2,016,000 Australians bought reading material in an average four weeks in 2014, up from 1,095,000 in 2011. All of the top 10 online retail categories have increased in popularity since 2011

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Improved customer service the key to boosting Myer sales

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 18-Mar-15

It is estimated that about 28 per cent of people who visit a Myer store actually make a purchase. Citigroup says Myer should hire an average of six additional staff at each store in order to improve customer service and lift its sales conversion rate. Some analysts also suggest that the department store group should seek to lift sales by increasing its expenditure on marketing, IT, e-commerce and store refurbishments

CORPORATES
MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, NORDSTROM INCORPORATED, DEBENHAM INTERNATIONAL, RH MACY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW

Woolworths puts more money into Masters

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 12-Mar-15

Australian-listed Woolworths has invested an additional $A30m in its Masters Home Improvement joint venture, while Lowe’s has contributed $A15m. The two groups have now invested more than $A3bn in the loss-making venture in the last five years. Masters posted a loss of $A112m in the first half of 2014-15, but Woolworths intends to press ahead with plans to open 6-11 new stores annually

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, DANKS HOLDINGS LIMITED, CHARTER HALL GROUP – ASX CHC, HOST-PLUS, SHOPPING CENTRES AUSTRALASIA PROPERTY GROUP – ASX SCP