Coles' chairman Rick Allert has sent the barbarians from the gate telling shareholders the “non binding” “highly conditional” indicative bid "substantially undervalued" the business.

Having told us that the share price should be well above $14.50 (without providing any reasons why we should believe them) the pressure is now on Allert and CEO John Fletcher to deliver.

Allert announced that more information would be released with the results presentation on 21 September to “ provide shareholders with clarity on the key drivers of growth emanating from the new strategic direction, as well as the financial outlook for 2007 and 2008”.

The planned delivery of more information is hardly surprising, given the caning Fletcher's 31 July strategy announcement received for its lack of detail. There were no targets and a shortage of anything really new or inspiring. An under-whelmed market sold CML shares down to $10.60.

So on 21 September; expect the full cartwheels, fireworks and champagne presentation telling us why the shares are really worth something in the $15 to $17 range.

In July, Fletcher didn't want measurable five year goals, but he has certainly got a target now. He must achieve a price well above $14.50 – and no longer has the luxury of half a decade to get there.

Barbarians at the gate, Klingons on the starboard bow and a monkey on the back.

What is not clear is whether the Coles board believes the price will be achieved by Fletcher's team lifting performance or by the barbarians returning with a bigger offer.

Investors seem confused following the rejection of the KKR indicative bid. The price rolled around just below $14 for a couple of days after Allert's rejection. On Monday it started to move, breaking through $14.00 before drifting back to close at $13.90. On Tuesday the price finally started to wriggle, reaching an intra day high of $14.12. Early trade this morning was at $14.32 so it appears the market is catching up to the bid price.

If the market believes KKR et al will return to the table with a higher bid; the CML share price should be at least $14.50. Alan Kohler believes the price will rise and is unwilling to accept that KKR put their highest and final offer in first.

On the other hand, if the bid is dead, the share price should be heading back toward $10.60.

Perhaps investors believe KKR has gone away, but hope the contretemps has frightened Fletcher's team into action. As Dr Johnson said:

Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Nothing is coming from either side that might indicate the future of the bid. In the absence of a competing bid (a possibility , although seemingly remote, given that almost everyone in that league is already involved) we can see three possible outcomes, with the least likely being KKR just walking away.

The second possibility is an increased offer from KKR, possibly rolled up with CML allowing a sweetener such as the opportunity to do some due diligence. There is an ethical issue here as KKR would have access to information unavailable to other buyers and sellers.

The third possibility is a hostile bid, sooner or later.

An early opportunity for another bid will follow next week's results announcement.

KKR may also consider coming back in six months or so, believing CML may look a little dusty by then.

Initially, KKR seemed to want to go forward with board approval, retaining the existing team following a friendly bid. We might now be about to see the bidders (and others such as Premier Investments' Solomon Lew and Ron Brierley) criticising the current leadership and telling us how CML would perform much better under new management.

Although some are talking of a price higher than $14.50, a period of destabilisation and performance below expectations also raises the possibility of a lower bid.

Having failed when approaching the board and trying to do this nicely; the barbarians may mass outside the gate with reinforcements and a battering ram.

I read one report saying that Coles might be a reluctant bride, but she will wed.

It might yet get ugly at Battlestar Galactica.

Being a retailer and a recruiter; not an analyst or stockbroker, earlier this week I took my confusion about the CML share price to an expert.

Chris Prunty of CCZ Equities is our go-to man on matters bourse. I asked Chris why the price is neither $11 nor $14.50+. He responded:

Good question. It's one that a lot of our private clients have been asking us: Why doesn't the Coles share price reflect the bid?

The reason is that the market is telling us that they believe there is still a chance (a 27.5% chance, in fact) that the private equity bidders will pull out or a higher bid won't be forthcoming for some reason. The calculations to support this are as follows:

As you can see, the market says there is a 72.5% likelihood of a $15 bid. This calculation is simply the differential between the price pre the bid (approx $11) and the current price ($13.90) = $4 divided by the price pre the bid ($11) and the potential bid price (approx $15) = $2.90. ($2.90/$4 = 72.5%).

If you felt that the actual likelihood of a higher bid was higher than 72.5%, and you were a hedge fund, then you could buy some CML at $13.90 and wait for a higher bid. This is know as risk arbitrage (it is also know as picking up pennies in front of bulldozers, but hedge funds appear willing to accept the 21% downside if no higher bid comes).

An interesting aside, part of the reason Long-Term Capital Management (at the time the world's largest hedge fund) blew up in 1998 was due to risk arbitrage trades like the one described above. Hedge funds would also have lost money on risk arbitrage in the recent failed attempted takeovers of Wattyl and Baycorp.

Chris Prunty CCZ Equities 02 9238 8234.

Want to know how your employees really feel about retailing as a career prospect, or how to tailor your leadership style to reflect different cultures within your organisation?

Presenters at next week's Retail People stream at the National Retail Forum will offer invaluable insight into how to effectively manage and lead your staff, 19-21 September, Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre.

The Retail People stream will take place all day Thursday 21 September, and will feature a host of local and international retailing experts.

Fred Harrison, CEO of Ritchies Supermarkets, will show retailers how to take the bull by the horns and create communication strategies necessary for retail leadership success. With particular emphasis on leadership challenges, and customising leadership styles to reflect different cultures within an organisation, delegates to the National Retail Forum will be inspired to re-evaluate their own directive strategies to improve employee performance and consumer satisfaction.

Internationally recognised behaviour change and organisational learning expert Dr Elizabeth Gibson will discuss her leading role in the historic change effort that saw US major retailer Best Buy achieve 1400 per cent stock growth in five years. Delegates will hear how these stunning results were achieved by changing the way people worked and leaders led.

Rob Lake, Director, Orex Recruiters (and editor of Brandish) will discuss his experiences and understanding of the unique internal culture at major retailer Bunnings. He will be accompanied by Willem Pruys, General Manager Human Resources for Bunnings. In their presentation entitled “What you might learn in 10 minutes in a Retailer's lunchroom”, they will divulge why Bunnings is a very different workplace from almost every other Australian retailer and reveal the challenges involved in finding the right people for them. Delegates will learn the answer to the question – “Why don't you meet many ex-Bunnings managers?”

National retailers will be intrigued by the Australia Post National Retail eLearning Project; an initiative undertaken to support the performance of around 5000 geographically dispersed Australia Post retail employees. Liz McArthur and Tony McSherry from Microcraft will describe and demonstrate their eLearning program, and detail why Australia Post used this approach, employee responses and future directions for the project.

Don't miss this unique opportunity to learn from Australia 's retail leaders – register today at www.retailforum.com.au.

In 1996, when Orex placed our first candidate at Bunnings, their show was just getting on the road, having just opened their fifth big box store. You know what Bunnings has grown to become – stores everywhere, sales of more than $4 billion and profitability & a share price you've got to love.

Orex has found more than 500 leaders for Bunnings. They include Buyers, Category Managers, Store Managers, Regional Managers and leaders in Property, HR, Marketing, and Loss Prevention.

Orex has helped Bunnings grow to become one of Australia 's biggest retail successes.

"Bunnings has had a great working relationship with Orex Recruiters for the past ten years. Orex has played an integral part in our growth by sourcing culturally aligned people to lead our support office and store teams and have assisted in the execution of our business strategy. Orex has consistently acted on our behalf in both an ethical and professional manner”.

Martin Duffy
Bunnings Human Resources

Orex made a difference at Bunnings - and we can make a difference for you.

Call Rob Lake or Christine Sturgess on 03 9349 8989.

Imagine the grocer going into Christmas without ham, pudding, cards or decorations. Disaster.

Toy and consumer electronics retailers are facing something similar.

Each year they rely on the release of the next big thing to drive sales. Every year, without fail, there has been one. Hopalong Cassidy cowboy outfit in 1953, hula hoops in 1957, Cabbage Patch Kids in 1983, Tamagotchi 1997. All the way back to the Hastings Archery set in 1066 (although to be fair, sales of archery kits didn't really peak until after St Crispin's day 1415)

The formula is straight forward. Hype the product, tease the market for months, launch in October or November and keep stock availability just tight enough to discourage discounting and create an element of panic buying. Bonanza for retailers.

This year the noise has been about Sony PlayStation 3. At around $1000 a pop, plus a few shillings more for add on games and accessories, it could be the engine driving sales.

In what is not good news for the likes of Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Toys "R" Us and the department stores, Sony announced last week that the much hyped system would not be launched in Australia until March next year. Japan will get some and the US will receive 400,000 machines instead of the pre-ordered 4 million. Australia and Europe zip. Australian dollar sales would have been in the tens of millions.

Retailers are now diverting the promotional dollars earmarked for the PS3 launch to other game systems and product categories.

So what's it to be for the kiddies? A cricket bat?

There are some long standing hostilities and battles in the world. God v Mammon, religious and ethnic groups, family feuds and Collingwood versus humanity. But the nastiest, longest and biggest is retailer versus centre manager. It got another airing on the ABC last week.

ARAV Retail In Style Gala Dinner

2006 Retail In Style incorporates the ARAV awards program, which recognises leading individuals and businesses operating in the Victorian marketplace. The program endeavours to recognise and encourage the pursuit of excellence in customer service, innovation and business strategy among Victorian retailers, and to encourage younger industry participants to view retailing as an exciting, rewarding, and long term career.

In addition to acknowledging the achievements of retailers in Victoria, the gala dinner seeks to raise the profile of the retail industry among the broader business and consumer markets. With key stakeholders across Victoria and interstate in attendance, the event provides a great forum for networking, sharing ideas and creating partnerships. 2006 Retail In Style contributes to the excitement and energy of the Victorian retail landscape, helping us build and grow together as an industry.

The evening will feature Mark McInnes - Chief Executive Officer, David Jones Limited as keynote speaker.

Please contact the ARA on 03 9321 5000 for bookings and enquiries or register online.

Tuesday September 19th
6:30 – Midnight
Crown Palladium Ballroom

Hurry! Seats booking fast. Do not miss this leading industry event. Bookings MUST be received by Thursday 14th September.

When making a purchase, a consumer has a choice between using frequent-flyer points, cash, or some combination thereof. Which will he or she choose?

Another consumer has an opportunity to participate in a special program to get a free car wash after paying for a certain number of washes. What's the best way for the car-wash owner to motivate the customer to participate?

Such questions are serious business for airlines, hotel chains, credit-card companies and other corporations that offer loyalty programs to customers. Two marketing professors have spent several years studying how these programs can be structured to generate the most revenue for companies offering them.

Loyalty programs need to be designed to offer differentiated products and services to customers based on their purchasing patterns and profitability. If these programs are simply based on quantity discounts or paying for patronage, they will not endure.

The department store represented a historic confluence of merchandising creativity and social aspirations that may be impossible to replace.

Department stores are proof positive of the Brandish first three laws of retailing. All retail is theatre. All retail is fashion. All retail is female driven.

As they slowly disappear in the form that we once knew them, some grand department stores are evolving as centres of community activity while others are being supplanted by evolving technologies.

We have online shopping. We have social networks. Now we have social shopping.

Sites like ThisNext , Kaboodle, and StyleHive are spearheading a new category of e-commerce called “social shopping,” trying to combine two favourite online activities: shopping and social networking. These sites are hoping to ride the MySpace wave by gathering people in one place to swap shopping ideas. And like MySpace, the sites are designed for both browsing and blogging, with some shopping-related technology twists included.

These sites take traditional online stores and enhance them it by making user-generated content such as profiles, tags, favourites lists and recommendations a much more integral part of the shopping experience. Tagging makes like-item discovery more human and much easier, and an innovative feature called Shopcasting lets users broadcast their new finds or interests to other ThisNext community members. The site also utilizes trackback links to display blog buzz about specific products and manufacturers.

Grandma went to department stores for theatre and choice. Social shopping sites are filling both needs.

But it's not just the leviathans being eaten by online retailers. In the land of High Street shopping, merchants are also suffering. For the first time in twenty years the amount of money spent by UK families in the high streets has fallen. Total spending on the high street dipped to £122billion as online spending increased to £8billion. The internet has enjoyed a 350% increase in online shopping in the last five years. In 2002, the per-head online spend was £436 and in 2005 per-head spend was £560: an increase of nearly 30%. In contrast, high street spending has been forecast to grow at just 0.1% over the next five years.

In Australia, people in regional and rural centres are buying more online as fuel prices jump.

You are an experienced retailer who is keen to make a difference. In this newly created role you will be able to make this difference on many levels. You will use your retail skills and knowledge to increase sales and profitability of the business which in turn will positively impact on the bottom line of a unique and specialist not for profit organization.

You will work in a caring, compassionate and committed environment and have the autonomy and responsibility for all retail operating aspects for the business.

Reporting directly into the Executive Officer you will work a Monday to Friday week and be based at the retail shop and office site in East Malvern.

This is a true multi faceted role which is idea for the experienced retailer looking to really make and impression on a retail business whose profits support a not for profit business.

To find out more about this unique role please call Tracey Horton on 03 9349 898 or simply send your resume to 5125.orex1@hiredesk.net to toss your hat into the ring.

Also worth a look

• New appliance sales. Business development, work with builders and property developers, great rewards.
• International lifestyle brand, first Australian flagship store, management opportunity.
• Big box management in tropical paradise.

Rare head office opportunity for an experienced fashion practitioner based in Adelaide. Must have current fashion credentials to hit the ground running.

In the US, the struggle to lift wages for low-income workers, once fought in farms and on factory floors, is moving to the aisles of big retailers.

Large national chains like Wal-Mart and Target would have been forced to offer higher wages along with every-day low prices. While retailers complained the legislation may lead them to delay plans for new stores, Chicago 's proposed living wage law is largely symbolic and would have little real impact on large retail chains or their employees. Some argue that it also won't have much impact on poverty.

On Wednesday we read the living wage proposal may be dead as Chicago Mayor Daley has exercised a veto.

"I understand and share a desire to ensure that everyone who works in the city of Chicago earns a decent wage," Daley wrote in a letter to the city council. "But I do not believe that this ordinance, well-intentioned as it may be, would achieve that end. Rather, I believe it would drive jobs and businesses from our city, penalizing neighbourhoods that need additional economic activity the most".

Melbourne 03 9321 5000

Professional Retail Selling 19 & 26 Sept
Recruiting staff & HR Principles 19 Sept
Fish 25 Sept
International VM Trends 26 Sept
Lead & Manage 26 Sept

ARA Training Calendar for Victoria.

Results from the Cashcard Retail Activity Index reported seasonally adjusted consumer spending levels of $18.2b for August, an increase of only 0.1% (adjusted) from July spending levels.

The trend estimate rose 0.5% in August following 0.5% increases in both June and July.

Raw spending levels reached the $18b mark for the fourth consecutive month. This was a 0.4% increase from July to August and follows an increase of 2.7% and 0.1% in July and June respectively for unadjusted consumer retail spending.

The index is based on EFTPOS activity in dollar value estimate for all transactions in cash, EFTPOS, credit cards and cheques. It is the earliest of the monthly retail indicators.

There was little evidence of Father's Day shopping and although some are saying consumers are saving for Christmas, it seems more likely they are just saving. I doubt if that will surprise any of you.

Cashcard is a member of the First Data Group which is Australia 's largest independent payments services provider.

First Data is a leading provider of electronic commerce and payment solutions for businesses and consumers worldwide. Serving 4.6 million merchant locations, 1,600 card issuers and millions of consumers, The company's portfolio of services and solutions includes credit, debit, private-label, gift and other prepaid card issuing and merchant transaction processing services; money transfer services; money orders; fraud protection and authentication solutions; cheque guarantee and verification services through TeleCheck; as well as Internet commerce and mobile solutions. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.

The longer term picture is good for Australian retailers, according to influential private sector forecaster Access Economics.

Australia 's retail sales should pick up this year and peak in 2007-08 as jobs growth continues, house prices rise and interest rates fall.

Access forecast retail sales to increase by 3.6% in 2006-07 in the 12 months to June 30 and by 4.2% the following year before moderating to 3.7% in 2008-09 and 1.3% in 2009-10.

Falling fuel prices may reduce the pressure for an interest rate rise and give the RBA board more interesting variables to ponder, although some are predicting a further 0.5% rise in the near future.

The Westpac index of consumer sentiment indicates we are all feeling a little happier.

In the past three weeks, Rod Williams of Push Retail has written about aspects of successful retail roll-outs and refurbs. He has also discussed planning, reviewing, resourcing and systems and processes. This week Rod writes about the implementation.

Use a skilled consultant. However, don't confuse consultants with contractors or shopfitters. Many contractors will offer “design and construct” services and shopfitters will claim to “project manage”. Often there will be the temptation to dispense with consultants to save money. Let's face it; “free” lunches are usually very tempting. Resist!

The right consultant should be able to save any project way more than the fees charged by providing well-founded, impartial advice on cost planning, programming, design options or whatever. More importantly, a consultant will take a more-strategic approach to problem-solving and project management.

Avoid using “preferred” contractors. These usually come about through having been involved earlier or through being good mates with someone. And because it takes time and energy teaching alternative contractors the ropes, it's very easy to just stick with the one you know. It all comes from being just a bit too lazy. Eventually, you come to rely far too heavily on your “preferred contractor” who even becomes complacent. Then you find the contractor owns intellectual property, designs or the like that you thought were yours! Preferred contractors often end up as non-preferred contractors.

Get your development standards established and documented early on – and then you can easily open the doors to a number of suitable contractors.

You'll never have to wonder again whether you're really getting value for money; because you'll be able to get competitive tenders on a tight set of documents. No matter how good a mate they are (and, in fact, the better the mate they are the more this probably applies); you need to “keep the bastards honest”.

Rod Williams is Principal of Push Retail. He has spent the last 14 years (mostly in store development leadership roles) rolling out retail projects with a combined valued of over $900M.”

Monash University Australian Centre for Retail Studies is running their Strategic Value Optimisation in Retailing program in Melbourne during late October.

Learn how to effectively blend science and art in a multi-channel setting to leverage greater value from all components of an integrated retail offer.

This engaging 5 day residential senior management development program is designed to provide a world-class educational experience under the guidance of academic experts and retail industry consultants from the Retail Management Institute, Santa Clara University, California, USA.

It is ideal for senior managers who are key decision makers in retail and retail related businesses including: Managing Directors, Chief Information Officers, Chief Finance Officers and General Managers particularly in the areas of Operations, IT, Marketing, Merchandise, Distribution, Finance, Strategy and Business Development.

Further details are available here or by calling Lenore Harris at ACRS on 03 9903 2455.

Wal-Mart is adopting a more varied retail strategy. Instead of one model fits all, they are thinking locally and stocking a more targeted product mix. The company has decided that six demographic groups need more targeted treatment. They are African Americans, the affluent, empty nesters, Hispanics, suburbanites and rural residents.

WorkPlace Systems, a leading supplier of integrated Workforce Management solutions and gold sponsor of this year's Retail Technology Expo, is targeting retailers with the launch of WorkPlace ChangePlanner – a strategic Workforce Management tool which complements and extends the existing WorkPlace suite of operational Workforce Management software.

The new module allows central or regional resource planners to deliver store managers with optimal rosters to suit specific demand periods in the year reflecting the particular profile for each store. WorkPlace estimates that this can improve store compliance in the use of optimised rostering by at least 50%, plus it allows optimised rosters to be implemented across the entire estate within short timeframes, securing the financial benefits of reduced labour cost and improved customer service much faster than with conventional rostering solutions.

In addition, the new tool enables retailers to plan centrally for specific high demand periods such as Christmas, ensuring that stores are more accurately staffed with short-term or casual staff to meet actual customers' demand. ChangePlanner is also able to create idealised rosters for new store openings increasing the suitability of new employee hiring plans. Different “what-if” scenarios can also be modelled using the tool to compare the effect of changing hours of employment or rostering rules on store labour performance.

To provide retailers with exposure to this new product and consulting services, WorkPlace is holding a prize draw during the Retail Technology Expo in which five retailers will receive the ChangePlanner rostering assessment for free. “WorkPlace has seen unprecedented interest from retailers for a strategic rostering tool to complement the conventional operational rostering products in the market,” says Nigel Garrett, Sales Director, and WorkPlace. “ChangePlanner is the first product in the Workforce Management market to achieve this and will provide retailers with new techniques and quicker ways to improve the allocation of their in-store staff, significantly improving service levels and optimising operational budgets.”

Country Road is the first retailer in Australia to benefit from this new tool and have just completed a strategic realignment of rosters within 4 of their high profile stores, demonstrating an average saving of 1.5% of labour costs whilst also improving customer service levels. “WorkPlace Systems were able to uniquely redesign and create new rosters that were acceptable to staff, reduced overall spend on labour and assisted in improving customer service by ensuring specified service levels were met, more than justifying our investment in WorkPlace software and services,” says David Thomas, Business Development Manager, Country Road.

Nigel Garrett will be presenting at the Retail Forum on Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st on “Increasing Your Retail Performance Through Workforce Management” drawing on examples from WorkPlace's retail customers around the world.

WorkPlace Systems was founded in 1986 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. WorkPlace is a world-leading supplier of Workforce Management software and of Consulting Solutions which increase customer service significantly and reduce labour costs, leading to improved store performance and customer experience. In 2005, WorkPlace Systems acquired US retail consulting company Labour Solutions International this strengthened their international retail knowledge and presence.

For more information visit: www.workplacesystems.com or email: austsales@workplacesystems.com.

Best Buy, the number one consumer electronics retailer in North America is coming to Sydney to be part of Loyalty World Australia 2006 taking place 31 October - 2 November.

Best Buy will be on hand to present an international case study about their hugely successful business intelligence strategy and how it has been used to predict customer needs and turn intelligence into profits.

Best Buy's Director of Customer Insight Research, David Scamehorn will be joined by other leaders speaking at the event representing organisations such as Starbuck's Australia, Hewlett-Packard, Vodafone, Mercedes Benz, Ansell, Telstra, Procter & Gamble and Caltex among others.

The two day conference is preceded by a popular workshop led by Sharon Williams, Managing Director, Taurus Marketing on Tuesday, 31 October on “How to utilise marketing to build customer loyalty and maximise competitive advantage in B2B marketing”. Sharon has worked closely with household names such as Kaz Group, Telstra and QBE Insurance in the past and has conducted workshops with a diverse range of companies from different industries including the retail sector.

The event will celebrate its second successful year in 2006.

Loyalty World Australia
31 October – 2 November 2006
Rydges Jamison
Sydney, Australia

A pilot scheme at a UK supermarket Asda's store has reduced staff turnover by 5% in only six months. The pilot lone parent support scheme, which began in March 2006, has seen the introduction of a telephone advice line, a web site, and e-mail services that provide support for lone parents working at the Asda store.

The Asda initiative is more likely to be helping retain younger females in the business. Another study shows, at more senior levels, women are earning more, but are also more likely to resign.

Retail results watch

Sigma

First half results were strong for this integrated manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer (Amcal and Guardian pharmacies). Sales were up 21/1% to $1.26b, Net profit up 56% to $49.4m

Strathfield

Sales falling

Improved picture under new management team

Losses down to $5.3m from $10.8m

Brumby's

The bakery group reported a 21% increase in NPAT to $2.08m Revenue was up 19% to $9.92m. Managing Director Michael Sherlock believes we are all fed up with low quality packaged supermarket bread.

Just Group

Sales up 10.3% to $698m
EBITDA $88.3m up 21.2%
Record NPAT $57.2m up 24.6%

These numbers are all ahead of market expectations. Howard McDonald is departing with the company in very good shape. After the disappointment of last year, the market has let the group slip under the radar. Chris Prunty is recommending JST as a compelling long and short term BUY.

Harvey Norman

Sales up 12.7% to $4.58b
NPAT $229.6m up 19.8%

This atypical retail offer through 174 franchised and 41 company owned stores continues to make money. It is not pure retail, being a mix with a property offer. Store rollouts are to continue locally and overseas.

LP goes hi tech

As professional shoplifters proliferate, retailers are increasingly trying to foil crimes with advanced technology and RFID-equipped shopping carts. "It won't be long before retailers link their store data to crime reports and statistical analysis to predict losses," a National Retail Federation official says.  

There are 6 million video cameras across the US, but some stores have installed advanced surveillance software that compares a shopper's movement to recognise unusual activity.

Closed circuit television can do more than catch crooks. Networked cameras can observe and track how shoppers react to specials or digitally find abducted children.

Don’t hold card data

Visa U.S.A. has issued a security alert to merchants not to store magnetic stripe data, card verification values, PINs and other card-related data elements after a transaction is authorized. The card association says it is issuing the alert because of recent data breaches involving improper storage of such data. Internet Retailer

Briefs

• It's not only Australian retailers that are feeling the pinch from interest rate rises
• There was a fuss during Fashion Week in Melbourne when a designer was reportedly told her models were too amateur and too fat. You can see them here and decide for yourself.
• The new Myer owners are delaying the introduction of the new inventory management system.
• To stand out this summer, Westfield is going for some experiential marketing and Myer is about to launch a glossy fashion mag.
• Donut or hole?
• The Warehouse, hoping that exiting the Oz market would see it sailing calmer waters, still has issues.
• Those impatient about getting the absolute latest fashion news can sign up for SMS alerts.