Following our story yesterday the retailer has moved to clarify the changes taking place at the mass retailer.
The Company has not refuted that up to 50 head office staff have been retrenched or that the Company is struggling to grow sales.
They did confirm that Wayne Jennings who in his new role as Group General Manager Merchandise will oversee all of the categories sold by the mass retailer, and that at this stage they have no plans to extend the range of categories the Company currently sell.
The Company who has not commented about growth and profitability but they did claim that Graham Roberts was the Group General Manger Merchandise for Consumer Electronics only.
The private Melbourne based Company is believed to be under pressure following a move by JB Hi Fi into appliance and the expansion of the Dick Smith retail group who now compete in the same locations where a Good Guys store is located.
A former senior employee of the Company told ChannelNews last week “The Good Guys moved to a central buying operation two years ago and it is working well. What is not working is their operational side, which is where JB Hi Fi and Dick Smith have a big advantage”.
Since the story appeared a major International Venture Capital Company has contacted ChannelNews, they confirmed that late last year they conducted an extensive analysis of two Australian retailers and that The Good Guys was one of those retailers.
At the time David Jones was being acquired by the South African retailer Woolworths.
The VC Company came to the conclusion that the market in Australia for consumer electronics and appliances was “too risky” and not worth the risk.
They said that there were “too many” retailers in the category and that there will be further “rationalisation” due to competitive pressures.
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