Total sales at Myer increased 12.3% for the five months to 1 January 2022, compared to the prior corresponding period. However, the Omicron Covid variant has had a negative impact on trading since Christmas.
Covid-19 enforced store closures in the first quarter saw 27% of department store trading days lost during the period. When not impacted by lockdowns, store sales in the lead up to Christmas were strong, up 17.1% on the prior period.
Online sales continued to grow in the five-month period and were 54.3% higher than the prior period, accounting for more than one in five (27.7%) total sales.
Improved operating gross profit has been offset by higher costs of doing business, primarily from the absence of JobKeeper support which was received in the prior period.
Myer CEO, John King said, “The results demonstrate the momentum of our Customer First Plan and the resilience of the business to overcome lockdowns and still record significant sales growth. While Omicron is impacting sales post-Christmas, we will continue to focus on growing our strong online business, ongoing engagement across our Myer one program and disciplined management of costs and inventory.”