The owners of David Jones have reported that “extremely challenging” conditions have led to a tough trading period for the department store chain.
According to the Woolworths Holdings Group's annual report, David Jones' full year sales were down 0.9% and comparable store sales also fell by 0.4%.
The group pointed to disruptions from the implementation of new inventory and online systems and the relocation of the business' head office as key factors in the impact on both gross margin and costs incurred.
In a statement, the group said that it had executed poorly on some product and had struggled with conditions in both Australia and South Africa.
“2018 has been a difficult year for the group as we contended with extremely challenging trading conditions in Australia and South Africa, as well as poor product execution in some areas of womenswear.
“It has been a year in which we substantially completed key David Jones business transformation initiatives.
“The disruption experienced during the year by the implementation of new inventory and online systems and the head office relocation impacted both gross margin and costs.
Country Road Group (CRG), who is also owned by Woolworths Holdings, fared better with total sales increasing by 1.7% for the year but also struggled with comparable store sales as its numbers declined for 1.8%.
Both businesses reported strong online growth numbers with David Jones posting an online sales growth of 21.4% with online now making up 5.3% of David Jones' total sales.
CRG saw an online sales growth of 20.8% over the year with online sales now representing 18% of total sales for the group.