Good afternoon,
There’s no doubting that Officeworks is one of the biggest success stories in Australian retailing, having powered its way to its 25th anniversary and more than $2 billion in annual revenue with an almost bullet-proof business model.
With the opening of the first store in 1994, Coles Myer CEO at the time Peter Bartels said there was potential to open 60 office supplies superstores over five years – the network now has 167 outlets.
At the same time, Ron Hirsch, then boss of the once great W.C. Penfold chain, observed that it took six years for superstores to achieve 10 to 15 per cent penetration in the US market.
“Here in Australia it is going to be a little more difficult,” he said.
Well, we all know what happened to W.C. Penfold!
Regards,
Barrie Parsons
Editor & Publisher
[email protected]
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