A major Australian department store operator is planning a big expansion of its e-commerce product categories when it launches a new marketplace platform in the coming months.
Myer's new, curated marketplace will go live in May, powered by Paris- and Boston-based e-commerce and dropshipping provider Mirakl, which is also behind the marketplaces of Bunnings and Country Road Group.
The retailer's existing e-commerce platform launched in 2017, to allow outside merchants to sell products on myer.com.au.
In the first half of fiscal 2026, marketplace sales were up by 9.3 per cent.
Myer recently added Samsung as a marketplace partner, executive chair Olivia Wirth told an earnings briefing on Tuesday.
"This is an area that we haven't played in before," she said.
"Back in the day, many years ago, we used to have a greater assortment of electrical items and telecom items.
"We don't (now). So this gives us a way to participate in the market."
The marketplace leverages the group's popular Myer One loyalty program, which has 5.1 million active members, according to Ms Wirth, who is the former head of the Qantas loyalty program.
Myers' marketplace opened the way to add large and bulky items to its product range, such as prams and cots to sit alongside its baby clothes offering or mattresses with its towels and sheets and bedding, Ms Wirth said.
"Our brand has strength in the home category, so marketplace allows us to work with different partners in a different way and really build out that overall assortment and truly own homes, a broader category," she said.
When it comes to Christmas trees, Myer's marketplace allows it to sell them for as low as $89.
"If we didn't have marketplace as an offering, we wouldn't have been able to participate at the lower end, and we actually saw customers trade up," Ms Worth said.
Myer keeps a careful eye on customer behaviour as soon as they enter its website, she added.
In the six months to January 24, the group's total sales were up 24.5 per cent to $2.28 billion, after it acquired five clothing labels from Premier Investments.
The integration of the brands - Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dottie and Jacqui E - is progressing well.
Excluding the apparel brands acquisition, Myer sales were up 2.1 per cent, compared to the same period a year ago.
Myer made a statutory net profit of $40.3 million, up 32.8 per cent after including the contribution from apparel brands.
For the first seven weeks in the second half of the year, sales were up 1.7 per cent from the previous corresponding period.
Myer will pay a fully franked dividend of 1.5 cents per share, fully franked.
Around midday, its shares were down 3.4 per cent to 28 cents.
