UK retailer Debenhams is opening its first Australian store in a cut-throat market, offering a suite of exclusive designers and new services and technologies to attract customers.
Debenhams' entry into the market via Harris Scarfe and Best and Less South African operator Pepkor, comes as fashion chains have collapsed and the city's flagship department store Myer battles flagging sales.
Graham Dean, managing director of Pepkor's south-east Asia's department store division, admitted the market is tough.
"We knew it was going to be tough. We didn't come into this assuming it was going to be a walk in the park. There's increased competition and if it gets any easier there will be even more competition," Mr Dean said.
The 3600 square metre store, in the basement of the St Collins Lane mall in Collins Street, is opening next Tuesday ready to offer new fashion options as the spring racing carnival gets underway and Christmas beckons.
It's the first Debenhams of its type and will be closely watched by the UK head office.
"It's not a traditional department store," Mr Dean said.
The focus is squarely on women's and men's fashion and cosmetics, with a MAC concept store upstairs on the St Collins ground level.
Apart from a clutch of labels and designers never seen in the Australian market, Debenhams is offering innovative new services that will distinguish its offering from locals.
The cosmetic counters will offer express beauty treatments in a bid to differentiate their services from other cosmetic outlets in the city.
There will be fitting rooms next to the "click and collect" desk so customers can quickly try on their online purchases and return them immediately if they don't fit.
Staff will carry mobile point-of-sale devices so sales can be completed anywhere in the store and customers will no longer be forced to wait in a queue to make a transaction.
And in another bid to capture busy customers, the store's new Debenhams Australia app will enable shoppers to create a wishlist of items that will be ready and waiting to be tried on in the store's roomy changerooms.
Chris Proctor, general manager of the Debenham Australia project said "People want to know they're not going to waste their time".
The app launches next Tuesday when the store opens and will also provide data that helps Debenhams focus sharply on what its customers want. Down the track customers will even be able to make their purchases on the app while in the store.
It is hoped Debenhams will restore the flagging fortunes of St Collins Lane opened in May 2016 with barely half its retail spaces occupied.
A stylish revamp of the centre, formerly known as the Australia on Collins, was undertaken by LaSalle Asset Management but there were plenty of empty spaces in between the headline international retailers Coach, Reiss, Furla and Maje.
JP Morgan paid $247 million for the centre last November and appointed new leasing managers to help flesh out the space.
Mr Dean said the centre had new owners and a new leasing strategy that would start to yield new retailers, especially once Debenhams opens.
"We're the anchor tenant and we'll be driving traffic back into the centre," he said.
Construction of the site was difficult given it was an older space and not a big new box in the suburbs, he said.
"But you've got to be open by the end of October for Christmas trading - otherwise you're done," he said.
