By double or triple.
Harvey Norman chairman, Gerry Harvey is confident that the Auburn flagship store will allow some product categories to see turnover increases at levels that could not be done anywhere else.
“If we can triple the turnover in certain product categories, looking to do 10 times the turnover in BBQs than I did last year, we are looking to grow categories by double or triple,” he told Appliance Retailer.
“This is something that is impossible to do in other outlets – to me that is pretty exciting, you can exceed your expectations such as doing $1.5 million in a category where it does $100,000 elsewhere it shows we are taking it to a new level.
“We have some unusual products that others might not even put in their shop, and most other retail stores in Australia would not stock and if they did it would be a waste of time anyway – and they would have to sell it for $100 one day as it is dirty and chipped. But there is a market for these products – as people will ask where they bought it this helps build the entire brand.
“From our point of view if we are in this business we want to be the best at it and recognised to be the best at it.”
Harvey says the proof will be if the store can pull people from all over Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle because they have heard about the store and they want to have a look.
“To get people to travel you have to do something truly different and extraordinary so I think that will happen and I don’t think there is any doubt people will travel 40 or 50 kilometres away to come here because it is the best.
“They may not buy from here, they might go back to buy from their local store. But they will come here because it exposes them to more product and ideas and they will find something they can’t find anywhere else,” he said.
