The 2012 retail online sales report card: What the big boys aren’t telling us

The big boys of Australian retail have been playing up their online credentials for the past couple of years.

So during this year’s reporting season we’ve paid close attention to the biggest retailers and how they’re faring online. And the answer?

We don’t know.

Many of the biggest retailers aren’t revealing any details about how much money they’re making. While some give vague references about double-digit growth, there aren’t any reference points.

Companies like Super Retail Group could be making as little as $10,000 or as much as $1 million. Annual reports simply don’t include this information.

There are still plenty of results to come. But here are some of the biggest retail announcements so far this season – and how they stand up with regard to online sales.

Domino’s

Domino’s is one of the few companies actually revealing anything about online sales. The company said its digital turnover reached 50% of all sales this year – out of a total of $544 million.

The business also said it wants to increase its online sales to 80% of total turnover by 2016.

JB Hi-Fi

JB Hi-Fi is also one of the few releasing hard statistics. Online sales are up 77.3% to $50.8 million – that’s 1.62% of revenue overall.

Reject Shop

It’s hard to provide online sales when your business isn’t online at all. And not only that, but chief executive Chris Bryce told the media it doesn’t have any plans to go online any time soon.

Woolworths

The retail giant says its online sales have jumped 95% across the entire network, although that drops to just 48% when the Cellarmasters business is excluded.

Big W sales were up 76%.

Country Road

Although Country Road said it “continued to invest and develop our online and digital strategy”, it didn’t actually reveal a breakdown of online revenue, or even percentage growth.

It did, however, say sales “exceeded our expectations”.

Wesfamers

Wesfarmers offers no breakdown of online sales, either for its Coles division, or for retail segments including Officeworks or Target.

While reports indicate Officeworks is turning over about $150 million a year, which would equate to about 10% of all sales. But as for now, no investor is the wiser.

Super Retail Group

The Super Retail Group certainly has a lot of reach, with the Supercheap Auto, Goldcross Cycles, Ray’s Outdoors, Rebel Sport and Amart chains.

Except none of these companies is given an online sales breakdown in its annual results.

Specialty Fashion

Speciality Fashion may have reported a loss this year, but its online sales are continuing to improve. Digital sales reached a total of $15 million, representing 2.6% of total value.

Noni B

The fashion retailer gave no breakdown for its online sales, saying only that it would continue to encourage sales growth online and that it would use its online presence as a “primary customer contact point for information”.