Australia’s largest sporting retailer Rebel admits it failed to plan for sales periods with enough stock

Australians having trouble getting a bargain during a time of high inflation shouldn’t blame themselves — the fault apparently lies with retailers.

Demand is soaring for new shoes and shirts but there just isn’t enough stock on the shelves, especially during those Black Friday sales a month before Christmas.

Despite the hype about buying online, sales are still overwhelmingly occurring in store, which means customers want to touch and feel what they are purchasing.

They also want to buy their festive presents in November and not wait until Boxing Day. That would be pointless for those of us who don’t have a spare bedroom to store those gifts for another 364 days.

Only early birds, it seems, are able to secure a bargain as the cost-of-living crisis re-emerges in our lives.

Goods inflation is now a problem in Australia

This is a particular problem at rebel, Australia’s biggest sporting goods retailer, whose parent company Super Retail Group on Thursday acknowledged that it had failed to properly stock up in the lead-up to the big sales.

“In particular, over the peak trading period, we did not consistently have the right depth of inventory available on our key ranges . . . to really fully capture the customer demand,” chief executive Paul Bradshaw told analysts during a conference call.

“This was driven partly by disruptions by some of our key suppliers and by our shortcomings in our own planning and execution. As a consequence, we believe we did leave sales off the table.”

Fewer things are more frustrating than missing out on a bargain when your credit card is being tested.

“If you’re going to dilute those margins, you’ve got to increase the volume of product that you bring in to mitigate the offset and we didn’t do a great job in that space,” Mr Bradshaw said.

“If other retailers are going to reduce the price, you’ve got to stick to your own plan and you’ve got to plan that well in advance.”

Super Retail Group, which also owns Supercheap Auto, outdoor equipment retailer BCF and camping goods seller Macpac revealed that rebel had the weakest sales growth in the six months ending on December 27, the day after Boxing Day.

Rebel’s total sales growth of 2.8 per cent was much weaker than the group average of 5 per cent.

The news was delivered a day after official inflation figures showed a 5.6 per cent surge in the price of clothing and footwear in the year to January 31, which was well above the consumer price index of 3.8 per cent.

Goods inflation is now a problem in Australia with prices soaring by 3.8 per cent over the year, up from last year’s annual pace of 3.4 per cent.

Women paid 4.9 per cent more for garments as fashion accessory prices soared by 12 per cent.

It’s no longer just services inflation from more expensive restaurant meals that’s causing so much pain, with Westpac senior economist Justin Smirk noting fewer customers were buying bargain-priced clothing and shoes during the Black Friday and Boxing Day sales.

“It does appear that the sales weren’t as strong as they normally are,” he said.

“Are we seeing margin rebuilds in the country? Or are we seeing margin expansions? That’s a very strong question.”

For the record, rebel’s margins fell during the financial half year “due to an increase in promotional activity”.

David Burns, Super Retail Group’s chief financial officer, said the effects of the February rate rise would take some time to be felt, as ANZ on Thursday joined the other Big Four banks in foresting a May rate rise on top of this month’s increase.

“I don’t think we’re yet seeing the impact of the rate rise but certainly, I think the tone of that change has probably a cloud over consumers. It will take time to flow through,” he said.

Hopefully, there’s more discounted items in store should interest rate rises again for the bargain hunters among us who have little choice.