Ex-Myer boss Bernie Brookes: ‘Tyranny of distance’ slowed Aussie etail adoption
Former Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes has told retailers their businesses challenges are “enormous” as he suggested Australian retailers have been slow to react to move into the online arena.
Brookes told a conference this morning that retailers are operating in a disrupted marketplace but said the smart ones, who are adopting an omni-channel approach, will emerge stronger.
An increasingly knowledgeable customer, online sales and emergence in Australia of overseas brands were some of the key issues impacting the retail market.
A more careful and cautious customer who is reluctant to overspend their budget or rack up credit card debts, has also impacted the industry, Brookes told the Optus Vision conference in Sydney.
Really:
More like Australia’s current crop of CEOs distrust a new business model.
And Australians are waking up to the fact about how they are gouged in current retail stores and voting with their wallets.
He’s right that it’s not all about price but he’s failed to mention that perhaps the most important trait of a good retailer (online or offline) is the experience.
Bugger that up and people will never come back.
Isn’t asking this guy about digital a bit like asking Michael Jackson to mind your kids?
How does a guy who never developed Myer’s online offer now know so much about online retailing? Must have spent some time studying it since he left!
When a customer goes into a store they want someon there to help them pick out a product who knows about the product AND they want to take it home with them that day, if they don’t want the customer service then they will buy online
By ‘tyranny of distance’ I think he means how distant he was from understanding that etailing was not a fad and that he should invest in developing a great online experience for Myer’s customers and ideally years ago. Yeah I’m taking notes from this guy….
Really?? Bernie Brookes talking online retail??
Are memories really so short that the Great Myer Christmas online disaster of 2013 is forgotten?
I think at the time the consensus was Myer had taken #fail to a whole new dimension of abominable.
Why in 2015 anyone would give this guy even a nano second of their attention confounds me.
Out of the top 30 US retailers 29 are ‘traditional’ bricks and mortar. Their online revenues continue to grow because they continue to invest in online and delver brilliant customer service. Bottomline it comes down to servicing customers regardless of the channel they engage in – something both Myer & DJS have failed to deliver on amongst the tidal wave of structural change in retail. If they’d spent as much time and money on their ‘traditional bricks’ instead of gouging the most margin they could and under-investing in online they may actually have a business worth believing in.
The picture with this story – Bernie Brooks under a huge sign “Leadership in a digital world ” – that’s a joke, right?
It takes a certain level of chutzpah for Mr Brooks to present a topic called ‘Leadership in a digital world”.
Omni-channel has been dreamed up by execs who have too many costly stores with long term contracts – in essence a strategy dreamed up to explain the previous strategy which didn’t work.
Most omni-channel retailers take days to ship products, no quick and easy return process (buy online, return in-store) have a poor website with terrible descriptions, categories, product ranges etc.
Myer online – Bernie could never deliver it.
Myer bottomline – same thing.
Myer and DJ’s are oil tankers; worth a shed load, however so slow to turnaround, that they are still trying to turn around. I think they have both taken the customer for granted. The experience in their stores is hopeless. Their online experience has been awful, it is getting better. Both ‘incumbents’ I would also liken to traditional third party content distributors, like Foxtel. Customers want it NOW. If it is on the shelf in NYC or London, then it needs to be available here in Sydney.
Successful businesses nowadays put the customer first, get it right and the dollars will come.
Was this an elaborate prank by Optus in booking a dinosaur who thought online shopping was a fad to do a presentation on the topic?! It was absolute insanity that both Myer and DJs took so incredibly long to adopt etailing and their websites are STILL pretty rubbish. They both want to continue to charge premium prices for a lousy online and instore experience. The ‘tyranny of distance’? Was he waiting for a telegram to tell him about etailing? And claiming Australia was slow to take up etailing, Aus consumers adopted it very quickly which is why Gerry Harvey and co had a big cry about us not paying GST on O/S items. It was the Aus retailers who refused to jump on the online shopping train. So obviously the solution was to lobby the government, not to immediately develop their own sites to compete. Early adopters such as Peters of Kensington should be applauded for being forward thinking and having had a great online shopping presence for years.