Day 11

Myer

Our last day had arrived and our very last visit was to be held at the Myer offices in the Docklands. We arrived at their stylish building and were greeted by the HR manager Lorene who once worked for Monash ACRS and once upon a time would take students on the MMSP program. She gave us some background knowledge of the company and explained the companies additional channel in online retail. With so many online stores offering convenience and low prices Myer is suffering and so needed to make the move online to keep up with changing retail environments. 

She then described the companies strategic plan-

1. New store growth and refurbishments
2. Exclusive brands- Own Brands
3. Build and strengthen Myer One
4. Optimise product mix and selling price
5. Improve Customer service
6. Deliver a flexible omni-channel Offer
7. Continue to reduce shrinkage

Digital Marketer Anna Delaney then spoke to us and described how they are being active in these digital channels.

Myer Own- Website

Myer Buy- Paid google search and Vogue Website advertising

Myer Earned- Facebook, Twitter and a Youtube Channel

Anna described their Facebook page and disaster plans, she used the example of customer complaints and said that any negative posts as such made will be solved and responded to for the customer immediately or at least as soon as possible. 

Jarrod Tuck the loyalty communications Manager spoke with us next and described for us the Myer One loyalty Program. This program rewards customers with discounts and provides the company with priceless information on their customers. It seemed a lot of data was mined from this source yet the company was yet to use it to their best advantage. 

According to Jarrod the Myer One program provided-

• channel- direct line to customers
• Information- Customer Insight
• Targetting- respond to customer needs
• Measurement- level of engagement
• Rewards- giving something back

Myer hope in the future to be able to use the program to create relevant suggestions to their customers on their online store using the information gathered on the system. At the moment their direct marketing and promotions are quite generic but hopefully this will change. The company was quite open about the fact that they were new to these channels and had not yet perfected them, a refreshing point to hear such a large company admit too. 

They have also produced an IPhone application and their Emporium magazine is now available for download for the IPad. 

The last presenter was Karlton Mcleod the advertising loyalty manager who discussed key thematic trends. these trends were-

• Access, convenience and content
• Transparency and human feel
• Consistency
• Meaningful Involvement
• Using multiple mediums in combination 

The main theme here was the need to personalise communications and be well involved in digital mediums and channels. Karlton explained the great need to keep up to date with consumer trends to ensure the company is relevant and most importantly found and embraced by the customer. With so much knowledge from our other visits it was hard to ignore the number of improvements Myer had to make. It seemed they were a business that had been struggeling to move away from traditional marketing and with the move finally in play were lagging behind the competition. Never the less it was a great and insightful last visit.  Me and Kit presented the speakers with certificates and wine. We were then awarded with showbags and made our way back to the bus. 

All Over

So our company visits had well and truly come to an end. With our last hours together Kristy and Colin took us to a mystery destination for a farewell lunch. When we arrived at our destination Studley Park, there was an amazing lunch waiting for us by the picnic tables. After a nice chat and rest we headed down to the water for some rowing. We got our life jackets on and in the water we went. On my boat was Angelica, Simone, Olivia and Deb and we eventually made our way down and back, poor Deb convinced (or forced) to row the whole way. It was a strange feeling knowing for the first time in 10 days that we wouldn't all be seeing each other the next day. This unit was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to anyone studying marketing at Monash. This program made our knowledge seem relevant and gave true insight into the industry. The opportunity to study and travel is priceless and the chance to meet new people along the way made it a great experience. Thankyou MMSP!