DAVID JONES COOKS UP PLAN TO ATTRACT FOODIES
DAVID Jones is aiming to connect with a new generation of food-obsessed shoppers as it prepares for the first phase of a $100 million investment in the gourmet food sector.
The nation’s oldest department store chain will unveil a new flagship foodhall at Sydney’s Bondi Junction in August as food becomes a cornerstone of a strategy to thrive in a tumultuous retail environment.
Celebrity chef Neil Perry has been brought in to help craft the offering, which involves a revamped eat-in experience, as well as a range of quality food items and gourmet ready-to-eat meals to go.
The Bourke Street Mall food hall in Melbourne will undergo a facelift by the end of the year to accommodate the new offering and a small fleet of stand-alone gourmet convenience stores are also in the works.
Chief executive John Dixon said Australian foodies were not being well catered for and David Jones planned to take full advantage of the opportunity.
It will have spent $100 million on its new offering by the end of 2019.
“It’s a significant investment in what we believe is a very strategically important evolution in David Jones,” Mr Dixon said yesterday.
“Food provides an important halo back into the rest of the business.
“People tend to shop (for) food more frequently than they will in other categories, so it will drive foot flow back into our stores and also allows customers to spend more time with us.”
South African group Woolworths Holdings, which bought David Jones in 2014, has transformed its retail business in its homeland and now generates 60 per cent of its sales from food.
David Jones is not providing sales targets but aims to lift its own-branded products from 10 per cent of food sales to 70 per cent.
The department store has also culled its product range from 14,500 items to 8500.
David Jones food group executive Pieter de Wet said the department store chain did not resonate with younger foodies.
“David Jones has a big challenge ahead — it has fallen off the food map and hasn’t kept up with the times,” Mr de Wet said. “If we speak to those under 35, there is no reason to come to David Jones from a food point of view. We’ve been living off past glory in food.”
Mr Perry said the new push by David Jones would be a game changer for the nation’s food scene.