David Jones, Myer Attempt Sales Recovery With Up to 60% Discounts

Although both Australian retailers David Jones and Myer registered sales slump in the last quarter, the two are bent on recovering lost ground by offering hefty discounts for their mid-season clearance sale which begin Wednesday or a day ahead of the sale opening by department stores.

Myer is offering under its Half Yearly Winter Clearance price cuts of up to 60 per cent on Scanpan Classic cookware sets, Marie Claire bed linen and dinnerware, and Vue Tranquil 300-threadcont cotton sheet sets, and 50 per cent less on Heritage and Vue bed linen and towels.

David Jones, in turn, will sell Sealy and Sleepmaker beddings at 45 per cent discount, Conran Eden towels and Country Road Canvas Hem ranges at 50 per cent off and 40 to 50 per cent less on Sheridan bed linens at its Australia's Biggest Stocktake Sale.

For its April quarter, David Jones reported a 2.9 per cent decline in sales to $399.8 million, while Myer logged a 2.1 per cent drop in third quarter like-for-like sales which took into account store openings and closures.

A day ahead of the opening, David Jones sent to store card holders an invitation to a pre-sale with the same markdown as that on Wednesday, while Myer had a special preview sale event between 5:30 and 9 p.m..

David Jones also made available its mid-season sale on its Web site.

Some retailers actually started their clearance sale earlier. Cue took of 30 to 50 per cent off its tag prices with its 2012 sales that opened Tuesday.

However, despite the hefty price-offs, business groups are not optimistic the sale would bring in a multitude of shoppers.

"I don't think we're going to see the sort of days when hundreds of people are queued outside waiting for the doors to open," The Telegraph quoted Sydney Business Chamber Executive Director Patricia Forsythe.

"A decade or so ago the beginning of winter was always the start of the sales season, but sales are now almost a permanent fixture of retailing so I don't imagine it's going to have the effect it once might have," she added.

Russel Zimmerman, the executive officer of the Australian Retailers Association, said the success of the winter sales depends if the Australian banks would pass on the 25 basis points interest rate cut the Reserve Bank of Australia approved on Tuesday.

"We're not going to see people trampling over each other... but provided the banks hand on the cut very quickly I think we'll see fairly strong sales," Mr Zimmerman said.