MARKETING’S CONTRIBUTION TO A RETAIL TURNAROUND

The show welcomed Michele Teague, General Manager of Marketing at Kmart, to discuss the evolving role of marketing in Kmart’s turnaround.

Teague talks about the challenge of Kmart being 80 per cent own brand and the supply side re-engineering that was required. An extraordinary story about a “huge product development business strategy with 45 designers in our head office and product sourcing specialists in five offices through Asia.” Through that phase “the role of marketing was largely a brand building and awareness exercise.” Teague adds that “marketing is now moving into an understanding of insights.”

The episode also touches on the continuous discussion about the evolving profession of marketing. She asserts “I don’t think any marketer has control over all the four ‘Ps’ anymore, particularly in the big services and retail organisations. Rather, the job is being the conduit between the customer and the organisation in order to deliver a consistent value proposition across all touch points.”

Teague goes on to talk about the online retailing challenges. “We’re absolutely committed to selling online and we wouldn’t do it if we couldn’t make money.  That’s what we are about. We sold 42 million t-shirts last year, that’s more than there are people in Australia and NZ.”

Teague said that clothing was one of retail’s most competitive segments and that online was not simply an additional sales outlet, people used it to research and window shop.

This episode aired last Thursday and is being replayed throughout this week on SKY NEWS BUSINESS. It is jointly hosted by James Hier, CEO MEC and Nadine Blayney, Deputy Business Editor at SKY NEWS BUSINESS. Watch more episodes of Marketing Dividends and subscribe to the AANA YouTube Channel.