Kmart boss Ian Bailey says the discount department store’s customer base is growing across all income demographics.Credit:Wayne Taylor
The company’s managing director,Ian Bailey,said last week the group had seen growth in customers across low,middle and high-income earner brackets as people of all wealth levels sought out everyday essentials.
“What we can see is we have more customers in the Kmart business than we’ve ever had. We’re not just the domain of people on lower incomes,” he said.
Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott confirmed on Wednesday that demand stretched across a range of items,with the company seeing sales growth across all product categories in the six months to December. But Bailey said there were a few key areas where momentum was really building.
“A couple of areas that are really strong for us[are] home,which is such an important category – kitchen and dining is really powerful,” he said.
‘We’re not just the domain of people on lower incomes.’
Ian Bailey,Kmart managing director
“Within the apparel world,footwear is going really well – I think that’s because we’ve improved our product offer. And also our low price toys... that’s really powerful for young families.”
While retailers offering big-ticket home items such as JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman benefitted from a rush of COVID-19 fuelled sales,brands such as Kmart and Target were hit hard during the lockdown years when retail restrictions prevented their bricks-and-mortar stores from trading.