Former Country Road boss Elle Roseby appointed as Adairs CEO

Former Country Road boss Elle Roseby says she will take risks and innovate at the home furnishings' retailer, with people still wanting to make their homes beautiful despite cost of living pressures.

Home furnishings retailer Adairs has appointed former Country Road manager Elle Roseby as its new CEO.

Newly appointed Adairs chief executive Elle Roseby believes the home furnishings retailer can absolutely thrive in a trading environment where consumers are sharply pulling back on discretionary spending, but that it must innovate and “take risks” on new products to win over cautious shoppers.

Ms Roseby, who up until recently was managing director of fashion labels Country Road and Trenery, owned by scandal-plagued Country Road Group, told The Australian despite cost of living pressures people still wanted to make their homes beautiful – and it was Adairs challenge to offer new and innovative products amid that environment.

“I think that’s about innovation. I think the tougher it is, the more you innovate, the tougher it is, the more risk that you take on new products, and you don’t become stale. So, if anything, that innovation piece becomes more and more important in an organisation,” she said.

“People still want newness, people still have money to spend, although it might not be as much as they had last year. They still want their home to be presentable, they still want their home to look nice, it is still a place to come home to every single night with your loved ones. “So yes, I think it’s our job to continue to innovate, to push, and that’s what I’ve been looking at with the Adairs’s team.”

Ms Roseby left Country Road Group recently amid the workplace sexual harassment and bullying scandal that has engulfed the fashion house, with Ms Roseby widely respected by staff and by many seen as a bulwark against the improper behaviour of other executives at the group.

Adairs announced on Tuesday that Ms Roseby, who has also held leadership positions at Cotton On Group, Sportsgirl and Myer, had been appointed the new CEO. She will start on or around January 20 and comes to Adairs at a time when it is struggling to grow sustainable sales and profitability.

Ms Roseby said Adairs, as well as its other two brands Mocka and Focus on Furniture, had a “very strong reputation” in the market and that she had a lot of experience in homewares, particularly after running Country Road.

“So I’m very passionate about the category. I understand the category. I understand the category mixes, and the complexities of those mixes,” she said.

“For me, it’s got a very solid foundation, and now it’s about the next chapter of Adairs. So that’s what I’m most excited about, the category, holding on to what’s really important in the foundations, yes, but how can we also move it forward.”

Adairs has around 200 stores, spread across cities and regions, and Ms Roseby said it was hence spread across different income levels but certainly was a mid-market proposition.

“It has got a 200-store network, which means that it is across different income levels, but it definitely is more of that middle (market). But what we can do really well is then make sure that we have the product mix, depending on what that store location is, really making sure that we’re speaking to that customer in that store environment.”