NZX listed retail giant The Warehouse Group has begun trialling a merged retail format that has seen its “Red Shed” warehouse stores combine with its “Blue shed” stationary offer.
The group is testing the format at its Auckland Airport location and is gauging customer response before making a decision about whether to expand the format.
CEO of both businesses, Pejman Okhovat, has come under pressure to cut costs and lift performance after posting a weaker half-year profit of NZ$13.6 million earlier this year, down from NZ$57.2 million last year.
The country’s biggest listed retailer had been consulting with staff at its store support office in Auckland and some regional centres as part of an overhauled business structure that will bundle its stationery and “Red Sheds” into one division and its Noel Leeming and Torpedo7 groups into another.
“By bringing The Warehouse and Warehouse Stationery together under one roof, we want to trial a more convenient way of shopping for customers as they will be able to move seamlessly between the two stores,” Okhovat said.
“Once the trials are finished, we will assess the impact on our customers and the financial implications to make a decision about rolling this concept out to more places,” he added.
The group declined to share any indication on customer feed-back so far, but is understood to be looking to continue a trial phase for at least twelve months.
It’s spruiked the change as providing customers with a “greater product range and added services”, being able to take advantage of stationery services such as printing and passport photos from a traditionally “Red Shed” location.
