September 2024
Former David Jones boss on the ideal time to quit as CEO
Paul Zahra, the former chief executive of David Jones, says, as a general rule, there is a minimum and maximum amount of time the leader should be in the role.
- Sally Patten and Lap Phan
February 2024
- Opinion
- Retail
Retailers need to be smart about casual conversion
Retailers are up in arms over plans to change casual conversion rights, but there are benefits in having more permanent staff, as IKEA and Bunnings have found.
- Sue Mitchell
December 2023
- Opinion
- Retail
Retailers hope for clearer skies after ‘perfect storm’ in 2023
The economy managed to avoid a recession this year, but the retail sector was not as fortunate, with real retail spending declining for three consecutive quarters.
- Sue Mitchell
October 2023
Retailers urge RBA to hold rates fire as tough Christmas looms
Strong growth in spending on clothes and gardening equipment underlines the case for further interest rate rises, but retailers are urging the central bank to hold fire.
- Michael Read
July 2022
- Exclusive
- Smoking & vaping
Retail lobby group chief quits but vaping push continues
National Retail Association staff had a backroom role in a campaign to legalise e-cigarettes despite the lobby group keeping its support for vaping a secret.
- Neil Chenoweth
May 2022
- Opinion
- Retail
The climate change challenge facing retailers
As the fight to save the planet ramps up, retailers need to assess what costs they will bear and what should be borne by suppliers, consumers and investors.
- Sue Mitchell
January 2022
New wave of DIY home projects as shopping centres spurned
The Wesfarmers retail stable symbolises the new consumer approach in early 2022, with Bunnings strong but Kmart and Target soft.
- Updated
- Simon Evans
September 2021
Clothing, footwear sales battered by COVID-19
Clothes, footwear and personal accessory sales were down 15 per cent year-on-year in August and 25 per cent on the same month in 2019.
- Ronald Mizen
July 2021
Locked-down retailers call for landlords to share the pain
Merchandisers are calling for reinstatement of the leasing code of conduct, saying property owners should be forced to hurt as well.
- Sue Mitchell
Sydney lockdown may push retailers to the brink
Retailers fear that the beefed-up Sydney lockdown will push stores to the brink and make any recovery uncertain because reduced welfare payments will not prop up spending.
- Updated
- Lucas Baird
- Exclusive
- Coronavirus pandemic
Freight pressures to hit consumers at Christmas peak
The Morrison government is considering extending its $780 million freight assistance program as experts warn key imports could be delayed or prices raised.
- Lucas Baird, Tom McIlroy and Andrew Tillett
June 2021
Still plenty of smoke in the vaping wars
The relationship between the nation’s small retailers and the local outfits of the world’s international tobacco giants appears closer than ever.
- Myriam Robin
April 2021
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Unfinished IR business cannot be ignored
Despite the omnibus bill debacle, a strong platform has been established for simplifying the archaic workplace system if the politics can be set aside.
- Paul Zahra
December 2020
The Christmas shopping is largely done but Boxing Day is a worry
Phil Ryan, the chief executive of womenswear retailer City Chic Collective, says a large chunk of the pre-Christmas spend has already happened.
- Simon Evans and Lucas Baird
November 2020
Business leaders hail RBA's $100b bazooka
Business leaders endorsed the Reserve Bank's historic foray into quantitative easing, welcoming the launch of the unconventional policy as another helpful prong to the government's stimulus program.
- Michael Roddan, Sue Mitchell and Angela Macdonald-Smith
September 2020
Masks and marshals: Christmas shopping will be different this year
Retail is slowly returning outside Victoria, but the busiest season will be unlike any other and there are doubts Melbourne stores will open in time for Black Friday.
- Sue Mitchell
Wesfarmers pushes for September 28 opening
Retail giant Wesfarmers has offered to co-design COVID-19 protocols with the Victorian government to enable shops to start opening from September 28, a month earlier than the existing plan.
- Hannah Wootton and Tom Burton
Keep JobSeeker instead of bringing forward tax cuts: retail boss
Former David Jones boss Paul Zahra says unemployed Australians should not be forced to the poverty line by a windback of JobSeeker.
- Tom McIlroy
September 2019
- Exclusive
- Education
Former DJ's boss Paul Zahra to remix music school
Former David Jones boss Paul Zahra is treating his new chairmanship of the Australian Institute of Music a bit like any other retail turnaround assignment.
- Michael Bailey