BREAKING NEWS: Winnings Quits NARTA?
In a shock decision, sources are claiming that appliance retail group Winnings has chosen to quit NARTA after the buying group tried to stop Winnings from opening a new store in Victoria.
ChannelNews understands that the dispute came to a head last week when Winnings resigned from NARTA after several weeks of discussions over the new store. Winnings also owns the Appliances Online bisiness.
NARTA stands for the National Associated Retail Traders of Australia, the buying operation was established in 1965 and is the largest independent electrical buying group in Australia.
They have 20 members in Australia and 6 in New Zealand, the combined buying power of more than $3 Billion.
Winnings CEO John Winnings
According to NARTA sources Winnings were told that clauses in their contract prevented them from opening the planned store in Melbourne, we were also told that a Melbourne based retailer who is also a member of NARTA objected to the store on the basis that they saw the arrival of Winnings in Melbourne as a threat as they were also a service based appliance retailer.
Earlier this month suppliers were asking JB Hi Fi whether they intended to stay within the NARTA buying group after the acquisition of The Good Guys and the restructuring of buying for the two retailers under the management of Cameron Trainor who is now CEO of a combined buying operation.
According to Trainor it is still “business as usual” between NARTA and JB Hi Fi.
Neither Michael Jackson the CEO of NARTA or John Winnings have so far commented for this story.
More to follow.
