Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page talks UK growth, retail belief and says ‘politicians think about legacy’
Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page - fresh from expansion in the UK - opens up on her enduring belief in bricks and mortar retail while dismissing suggestion of retirement or care for legacy.
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Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page dismisses any talk of retirement or care for legacy - “politicians think ‘what’s my legacy?” - as the home and lifestyle retailer expands.
In a wide-ranging interview two weeks after groundbreaking expansion into England - with a 5000sq m flagship store in the West Midlands coming on top of 16 stores in the Republic of Ireland and two in Northern Ireland - Ms Page ruled out retiring any time soon and why she continues to believe and invest in bricks and mortar retail.
Sitting in the Sydney headquarters, Ms Page - who has overseen the rise of Harvey Norman from a single store to more than 300 in eight countries, orchestrated the elevation of the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast to the country’s premier yearling sale and racing festival, and been instrumental in lifting up women’s sport – has no time for considering what her legacy might be.
ON HER LEGACY
“I never think of legacies. When you’re in the position that I’m in, you just grab every opportunity,” she says.
“I say to people, ‘I don’t want to be on my deathbed saying, I wish I did this, I wish I did that’ because I’m in this fortunate position. But the whole legacy bit – I know politicians think, ‘what’s my legacy?’ – I’ve never thought about it like that.”
To that point, and despite all she’s achieved to date, she never thinks much about retirement either.
DISMISSES RETIREMENT
“I wouldn’t know what retirement was. And retire for what, from what? In my life, I’ve got lots happening. I can’t ever imagine just sitting down and doing nothing. I’m 68 so I’m at the last part of my career, and I’m always thinking, ‘what’s next?’
“As long as I can breathe, walk, do whatever, there’s always going to be really good things in my life.”
Fresh from the UK store launch, the way her teams and company have gone about the opening is what success looks like to her – bringing people with you and making them feel proud.
“It’s spectacular to think you’ve got an Australian company that can be operating in eight countries, very different countries, and opening these stores that are spectacular,” she says.
“I took (partner and Harvey Norman founder and executive chair) Gerry (Harvey) over and he’s just in awe of what we’ve done.
“We’ve got teams sitting in Europe, in Ireland that have come together with the UK team to deliver something that is world class. To me, that’s success. It’s bringing your people with you. You should have seen how proud they were. I’ve got the Slovenian team there, and they’ve been in charge of that, and the Irish team, and they’re wishing our UK team well.
“For someone that’s running a business, that’s what you want – that you’re able to do something at a standard and be thinking about your company for the future as well.
“The UK is a very big market, much bigger than Australia, so if we make this work, that’s success. But having your people so happy and wanting to be better, that success as well.”
BELIEF IN BRICKS AND MORTAR RETAIL
Asked about the future of retail, she is steadfast: “This idea that everyone wants to shop online, they want to do this bit, but not that bit. We’ve stuck to our knitting and said always (that) we’re omnichannel. The world’s come back to that.
“You see it in America a lot at the moment - through Covid, online was great and people were getting excited. (But) a lot of those new brands that emerged online are now doing pop-ups or getting physical stores because their sales stopped.
“They realised they needed contact with the consumer so they understood what the brand stood for. A lot of these brands always come back to omnichannel.
“Specifically in our category, you’ll go and buy a cushion online but do you buy the sofa online? You’ll buy your sheets online. But do you buy the mattress and the bed online? You’ll come in and you’ll see that set of sheets on that bed, and you buy it on the spot.”
She admits she’s a connoisseur of physical shopping herself: “Yes, I love shopping, so I love going to a well-executed store.
“I took Gerry to a number of different places. I said, have a look at Harrods. Harrods has been around for 100 odd years. Had different owners. It’s never looked better. So whatever people think of Harrods, when you get in there, there’s something for everyone: it’s the theatre. It’s amazing.
“I just love good retail. I don’t care what age group you are, 18, 19, you love good retail. You don’t want to sit in a little grey room online the whole time and you send most of it back anyway.
“The minute a really good brand opens, and the execution is great, the young ones will spend more in that store than they will online.”
GOLD COAST BULLETIN WOMEN OF THE YEAR SUPPORT
Another brand she has helped nurture and grow is the Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year Awards by Harvey Norman.
Self-declared “living miracle” Alexa Leary - who recovered from a near-fatal, high-speed cycling accident to win gold and claim a world record at the Paris Paralympics - won the overall title on the weekend in the sixth instalment of the awards.
As the title sponsor since its inception, the calibre of women it highlights year after year continues to impress Ms Page – and reaffirm the Harvey Norman support for the annual campaign.
“I’ve been reading about all these fabulous women that we’ve got this year, and the diversity of what they do, what they’re contributing, and that’s what it’s about,” she says.
“It’s about women telling their stories, because there’s so many out there, and you’re giving them a platform and that helps so many other women. Think about the number of women we’ve had now that have been represented with these awards. I just love reading their stories.
“We support the Paralympics. We’ve done it for some time,” she says when asked about the Australian athletes who shone in Paris, particularly Ms Leary.
“When you see amazing people like that, it’s giving them the opportunity to tell the world their story. It’s visibility. They’re elite athletes. In the past, people – because they couldn’t see them on prime-time TV or get the coverage – they didn’t get as many people watching the Paralympics. She will have so many people come to her and want to know her story, and it’s going to help so many in her situation.”
Asked about the recent rise in the promotion of women’s sport from the Matildas to Olympians and NRLW and AFLW – and whether she feels like the support continues after those wins or that there’s more to be done, she says: “What happens is everyone high fives. Paris was amazing. The Australian team, the swimming team alone, amazing. But what happens after this is everyone forgets really quickly. It’s our job – and it’s broadcast partners’ job, it’s newspapers’ job, it’s the media’s job – to make sure, in between, we keep telling the stories of those sporting heroes.
“I understand, because I speak to so many of them, the heartache they have afterwards, one minute they’re high and then the next minute everyone’s forgotten them. As we go to Brisbane, the job that we’ve got corporately, as well as individuals, is making sure that they have that platform continually.
“It will get stronger and stronger. We will keep investing in sport. For other athletes, you talked about the Matildas, and that was another high five. They’re an amazing group of women. What you’ve seen with sporting codes, it’s not tick the box. They’ve seen (the) ratings on TV. Corporates can see the value of supporting women in sport is great for their brand.”
Ever the business dynamo, Katie is also a country girl at heart. She once famously said she loves nothing more than rural vibes and getting that red dirt of country Australia between her toes.
“Red dirt. I need freaking red dirt,” she muses. “I do. What I need is a little bit of rain on the red dirt. You know that smell, right? I want to go yellow belly fishing, right? And then
I want to go to the pub and I want to play snooker with the locals.”
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