David Jones considers a future in financial services
David Jones is considering launching an expanded range of financial products to customers, following a similar business model to UK retail operators Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Speaking to Ross Greenwood on Business Sunday, chief executive officer Mark McInnes said: “In general, we’ve got a great customer base and a very loyal customer base.
“If we can take a larger share of their personal financing rather than a larger customer base, [and instead] take a higher share of our existing customer base, then that could be very lucrative for our company post ’08.”
David Jones currently offers consumers a store credit card. While McInnes could not confirm which products would be made available in the future, he said: “Some of the examples from companies overseas that have done it like Tesco and Marks & Spencer are things like personal loans, general purpose cards, where you use Visa, American Express or Mastercard along with your card.
“Home loans, insurance, we’re going to look at all of those opportunities and determine for our customers which are the best.”
McInnes also predicted an increase in consumer spending following what he termed “18 months of depressed consumer sentiment”.
He added: “Access Economics is forecasting a rise in consumer spending in ’07 and ’08, but we’ve been quite clever too because we’ve then matched that rise in consumer spending with our own investment in major refurbishments and brand installations.”
Despite the slowdown in retail sales, David Jones reported an increase in profits after tax of almost 15 per cent, or $54.5 million, for the six months ending January 2006.
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