Myer has recruited UK retail industry veteran, John King, as its new CEO and managing director following an international executive search.
The embattled ASX-listed department store announced the appointment today, outlining King’s experience leading the successful transformation of UK department store giant, House of Fraser, from 2006 until its sale to Chinese conglomerate, Sanpower, in 2014, as a key reason for his appointment. The deal was worth £480 million.
“Over the course of his tenure at the House of Fraser, John and his team consistently grew revenues, differentiated the product offering and launched a successful online business, improved EBITDA and reduced the company’s debt,” Myer executive chairman, Garry Hounsell, said in a statement.
“They also refurbished more than 70 per cent of the property portfolio and implemented a vision, values and culture program. John understands fashion retailing and customers, particularly at department stores. He is an excellent candidate to lead Myer and I look forward to working with him to unlock the company’s significant potential and deliver shareholder value.”
King’s appointment comes two months after former CEO and managing director, Richard Umbers, stepped down from the role just days after issuing a half-year finances warning and decision not to name a net profit guidance figure to the stock exchange.
Umbers’ departure also came just three months after Hounsell took up the chairman’s position and immediately began expressing his frustration at the state of the company’s performance and turnaround.
King has more than 30 years in the retail trade, working across merchandising, store operations, ecommerce, sourcing and supply chain. Since leaving House of Fraser, he’s been in the US, consulting to a number of US-based retailers and working with several startups.
“I’m excited to lead this iconic Australian company. Which like all global retailers, is facing significant change in both the retail environment and consumer shopping habit,” King said. “I’m looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of this role.”
Myer kicked off its $600 million ‘New Myer’ strategy more than two years ago, a transformation agenda aimed at improving its customer focus, experiential offerings, omni-channel shopping capabilities and lifting productivity across the group.
In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.
Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?
As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.
What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...
Tareq
Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business
Enterprisetalk
Mark
CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June
Great e-commerce article!
Vadim Frost
CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes
Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...
jackson13
The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration
Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.
Ella Hall
The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration