Myer has confirmed a new GM of marketing and head of media as part of efforts to bolster its marketing and customer function. The news comes a week after the embattled department store giant announced lower sales but stronger operating profits for its FY19.
Taking up the Myer general manager of marketing post is Gemma Hunter, who most recently spent the past nine years with Mediacom, leading content strategy, creative, production, SEO, social and data analytics teams. Her resume includes work across virtually every consumer-facing vertical including FMCG, retail, fashion, sports, gaming, technology, alcohol, motoring, charity, leisure and entertainment and banking and finance.
Assuming the head of media role, meanwhile, is Aaron Achurch, who boasts of 15 years’ experience working in the media space and comes from Mindshare, where he worked across IAG and IKEA. His resume also includes working for Ikon Communications, where he helped brands such as Diageo, Bankwest, Vodafone and the Australian Rugby Union.
Both new senior marketers report to Myer chief customer officer, Geoff Ikin, and commence their roles in mid-September. Ikin himself took up his role, covering all customer-facing functions including online, marketing and advertising, last November.
“With the key appointments of Gemma and Aaron to these roles, we are bolstering our marketing and communications capability,” Ikon said in a statement. “The experience Gemma and Aaron will bring to these roles will be instrumental in delivering the work underway to re-engage with our customer, putting them firmly at the heart of all that we do.”
Hunter noted Myer’s position as a loved and respected brand in Australia. “To be a driving force in the work that is underway, reigniting passion in the brand by focusing on customer experience and emotive storytelling is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she commented.
Achurch saw enormous potential through advertising and communications to show to the Australian community the positive changes underway at Myer.
“This includes the addition of new brands, offers and experiences that you will only get at Myer,” he added.
The appointments comes a week after ASX-listed Myer released its full-year 2019 results, reporting a 3.5 per cent drop in total sales to $2.99 billion, or a 1.3 per cent drop in comparable store sales.
On a more positive note, EBITDA was up 7.2 per cent to $160.1 million, while net profit after tax lifted 2.2 per cent to $33.2 million. Online sales proved the bright spot, rising 25.6 per cent to $262.3m, with digital sales up 21.9 per cent to $292.1m. This represents 9.8 per cent of total group sales. The figures were a marked turnaround from the half a billion dollar loss reported in FY18.
Upon announcing the results, Myer CEO and managing director, John Kong, said the figures demonstrated a focus on profitable sales, disciplined management of costs and cash, and deleveraging the business in its first year of the ‘Customer First Plan’.
“We have progressed a number of strategic initiatives, but recognise there is much more to be done to transform this business in the interests of customers and shareholders,” he said. “Pleasingly, customer service metrics have improved during the year, reflecting back-office efficiencies, the new labour model that ensured more appropriate service levels at peak trading times, greater training levels and improve product knowledge.
“The rollout of new and ‘Only at Myer’ brands continues with a significant brand refresh currently underway across all stores, with more than 90 new brands expected to be added to our range by Christmas 2019.”
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