Online Sales Saving Grace for Myer in H1 FY22

Despite lockdown headwinds, sales growth has increased for Myer in the first half of FY22. The Omicron variant making its way through the community has had a negative impact on the Christmas trading season, but its online channels have returned some cash flow for the business.

In the first half of FY22, online sales were 54.3 percent higher on pcp. Overall, online sales made up nearly one third (27.7 percent) of Total Sales, up from 20.2 percent on pcp.

“The results demonstrate the continued momentum of our Customer First Plan and the resilience of the business to overcome the initial months of lockdowns and still record significant sales growth during this period,” said John King, the CEO of Myer. “Whilst we are seeing Omicron impact sales post Christmas, we will continue to focus on growing our strong online business, ongoing engagement across our MYER one program and disciplined management of costs and inventory.”

Operating Gross Profit has improved in the last five months, thanks, in part, to the improved sales performance. However, this was partially offset by higher CODB – this was mainly due to a lack of JobKeeper support, the retailer explained.

For the physical stores – out of lockdown –  Myer’s trading was ‘particularly’ strong. For the two months ending January 1st, 2022, Department Store sales were up 17.1 percent over the corresponding period. However, the pandemic enforced store closures resulted in 27 percent of brick-and-mortar trading days lost. In comparison, this was 10 percent on pcp.

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