Dick Smith has outlined its growth strategy at its annual general meeting, with the electronics retailer looking to expand its store network to 450 stores by the 2017 financial year.This equates to opening around 20 new stores a year, with the Dick Smith store network across Australia and New Zealand – consisting of Dick Smith, David Jones Electronics Powered by Dick Smith, and Move stores – currently totalling 381 stores.
Dick Smith is also looking to double its proportion of online sales, stating it is on track for online to reach 10% of retail sales by 2017.
Chairman Phil Cave told shareholders the board believes “there is considerable scope for at least 450 stores in Australia and New Zealand”.
“We are pleased to have moved to a store opening phase, following a number of store closures in recent years,” Cave stated.
“In 2014, we opened 21 Dick Smith stores in addition to David Jones and Move, with all stores profitable.”
Dick Smith will have eight distinct online platforms from which customers can make purchases, Cave added.
“These include the Dick Smith transactional websites and apps, as well as Dick Smith stores on Westfield, eBay, Catch of the Day, David Jones, and Trade Me in New Zealand, with the Move transactional website to be operating before Christmas,” he told shareholders.
Dick Smith’s online sales grew 55% in 2014, presently representing over 5.5% of retail sales, he further noted.
In the first 15 weeks of the 2015 financial year (to 12 October 2014) Dick Smith has posted sales growth of 10.1% and like-for-like sales growth of 1.7%.
Dick Smith anticipates high single-digit/low double-digit sales growth for the 2015 first half.
