DEVIL IS IN THE RETAIL BUSINESS
Townsville THE man behind Rebel Sport who also brought the Topshop/ Topman brand to Australia has blamed last month’s collapse of the fast fashion retailer on the British franchisor Arcadia Group.
Hilton Seskin told a business lunch in Sydney that Topshop failed because the franchisor was more concerned with “clipping a ticket” rather than the overall strength and profitability of the business.
Mr Seskin was part of a panel at the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch yesterday which discussed the future of retail, with a strong focus on the impending arrival of US titan Amazon, the tough sales environment and rental fees.
Peter Allen, chief executive of Scentre Group – Westfield’s Australian shopping centre arm – said Aus- tralian retailers needed to wake up to the fact that Amazon was already here.
“Amazon is already here in Australia, I would estimate between $ 800 million to $ 1 billion in sales already go to Amazon, it just doesn’t happen here in Australia, it happens offshore,” he said. “What we have seen in US and UK is that retailers in a great physical space continue to perform really well and we are seeing a continuation in growth in foot traffic and sales in those centres.”
Harris Farm chair Catherine Harris said the current retail environment was a tough place to do business.
“Let me tell you it’s really hard, retail is really hard and especially for fruit and veg, it is 24/ 7 … we have a whole raft of people who seriously work 24 hours per day,” she said.
Mrs Harris said her husband David was meant to be retired but he spent up to four hours a day on the phone to farmers and buyers in fruit markets to make sure his customers received quality produce.
Mr Seskin, who is also the man behind the Glue retail stores and sportswear company JD Sports, said discounting in the online space was severely hurting bricks and mortar retailers all over the country.
“I think retail is exceptionally tough, I have never seen it this tough,” he said.
Mr Seskin blamed the collapse of trendy retailer Topshop on the British franchisor Arcadia Group.
“I have just been through the collapse of an amazing business because the franchisor was only focused on clipping a ticket and not focused on the success to our consumer and obviously our profitability,” he said.
“Right now what I am trying to do is protect as many jobs as we can, and trying to keep the business alive, that’s my sole focus right now,” he said.
Mrs Harris and Mr Seskin, who both have leases in Westfield shopping centres, said rents needed to be priced more competitively for retailers to have a chance.
“The landlord can’t just be solely focused on what their return is on that day … it’s about the survival of the people that are important to them,” Mr Seskin said. “I look at some of the leases for our competitors and there is no wonder there are less and less independent retailers,” Mrs Harris said.
Mr Allen said he was in the process of changing Scentre Group’s leasing structures to give his retail tenants a leg up.
“Today we do differentiate in terms of rents per square metre based on different types of retailers, density and their ability to pay,” he said.