Hard road to relevance

Wagga store up in the air

The future of Wagga’s Myer store is again under a cloud amid reports of looming store closures.

The business is under threat from international heavyweight TK Maxx and online giant Amazon, which has had a massive impact in the United States.

Myer has already closed stores in Orange, Wollongong and Brisbane, while marginal stores are expected to get the axe under a massive restructuring.

Credit Suisse analyst Grant Saligari said Amazon could snap up a 10 per cent share of the clothing and non-electrical homewares market within five years and Myer would likely have to accelerate store closures as it tried to cope and improve its digital sales effort dramatically.

“It is likely to be all too much for Myer,” Mr Saligari said. “Amazon is likely to accelerate a consumer spending shift to online… particularly in home wear, clothing and beauty – all with a high overlap with Myer.”

Wagga clothing retailer Mark Mackenzie said it was a tragedy to see stores struggle, but he believed Myer’s problems were of its own making.

“Instead of getting staff and teaching them good customer service they’ve taken more and more people away, you can’t find anyone in there, so people shop online instead,” Mr Mackenzie said.

“Online shopping has done a lot of damage but it’s a changing world and you need to keep changing and innovating.”

Australians are increasingly turning to online shopping, with consumers spending $14.7 billion last year, a jump of 11.5 per cent.

Charles Sturt University marketing lecturer Michael Mehmet said Amazon was far more of a threat than many retailer realised.

“They have lots of user data and analytics, so they know more about you than you realise,” Dr Mehmet said.

“But it’s not just Amazon, stores with a great synerby between online and offline like H&M and Zara are killing it. Look at the USA – there’s not really a future for larger department stores and it’s a real shame because those jobs will disappear in regional areas.”

A Wagga retail veteran, who spoke on condition of anonymity, wondered what future Myer would have in the city.

“I don’t think it will ever go away completely, I can’t see a time where the capital cities don’t have a Myer,” he said. “But I think they will probably end up (closing stores) in the country.”

Myer declined to comment.