Kmart and Target support offices will face an internal reorganisation in a bid to align both brands more closely.
Kmart Group managing director Ian Bailey confirmed the news with Ragtrader, saying there will be no impacts to Kmart and Target stores.
“While Kmart and Target have traditionally been run as two separate businesses, we’ve been operating the two closely together as part of the Kmart Group division of Wesfarmers for some time,” Bailey said.
“With customers now demanding value more than ever, this new operating model will unlock a new level of scale and productivity across both brands, so we can deliver even greater value to our customers in the future.
“For store networks and 50,000 store team members – it’s business as usual – as we continue to focus on providing the best value products to the thousands of customers in Australia and New Zealand who choose to shop at Kmart or Target every day.”
This move is intended to turn Kmart Group into a $10 billion business. The group’s overall sales for FY22 reached $9.6 billion, down by around $300 million on FY21, but up by $400 million on FY20.
Ian Bailey will continue in his role overseeing Kmart Group. Target MD Richard Pearson will move into a new role within Wesfarmers’ newly acquired Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), which operates both Priceline and Soul Pattinson.
Kmart CEO John Gualtieri will take on the management of Target stores alongside Kmart. CFO Aleks Spaseska will move to a new role overseeing the international supply chain, sourcing and property.
Arjun Puri, who was responsible for global sourcing across Kmart and Target will now focus on Kmart’s home brand Anko. The home brand is selling direct-to-consumers in India and has recently struck a partnership with Canada’s Hudson Bay.
Kmart chief information officer Brad Blyth will retain his role, but will take on Target’s migration to one set of systems as part of the internal shakeup.
Bailey told Australian Financial Review that this shakeup will lead to a “handful of redundancies” in the back-end, mostly in technology and merchandise. However, he said the company will end up with more jobs in the business a year from now.
The news comes as Wesfarmers’ OneDigital arm intends to create a unified digital ecosystem for the major Australian retail group through its OnePass membership program and its digital analytics division OneData.
As well as Kmart Group and API, Wesfarmers operates Bunnings, Officeworks, Workwear Group and Catch, alongside other non-retail enterprises in chemicals, energy and fertilisers.