It's getting difficult to get any meaningful clues to sales from...

It's getting difficult to get any meaningful clues to sales from the JB website. Too many stores show zero stock on multiple colours. In some cases that reflects zero stock but in others it means stock levels are below a threshold quantity (I had a sales rep previously tell me they had several left of one colour even though stock showed zero online for click and collect. She said that was normal and designed to make sure there would be a buffer so that customers coming in to collect wouldn't be disappointed).

Two weeks ago, Strand Arcade showed 2 pink, 2 red and zero of both blue and grey. Now they show zero of every colour. That implies 4 watches sold but what if zero blue and grey was actually 3 or 4 of each (and below the threshold where 3 or 4 shows as zero). So we have no way to know if they sold any blue or grey.
Melbourne Central had better starting quantities of 0, 6, 5, and 9 watches (grey, pink, blue and red) and are now down to 0, 2, 0, 4, implying 14 watches sold over the two weeks.

I questioned a sales rep on the zero quantity in stock of two colours and asked when they might get more in. He told me they are expecting a shipment later this month to restock all stores. I'm not sure why they would wait till later in the month but perhaps they are happy to sell online until most stock is gone before re-ordering. I followed up by calling another store. He told me it's normal to get low on stock following Christmas and they normally get restocked in approx. 2 weeks after New Year. He said he couldn't give an exact ETA but they were currently out of every colour and he recommended that I could buy online to get the sale price. The depleting stock levels across stores may be pushing customers to buy on JB's website or better still, on the Allmytribe site (much better margins for MGM). Until we see a trading update we won't know how well those online sales are going. With all the advertising and depleting store stock levels, JB online and Allmytribe online sales might be booming.

A trading update this month seems likely especially if JB re-orders in the next week or two.

All Ords is up around 1.4% and showing signs of breaking out of its down trend.


Some nice buys coming in to push MWR into positive territory on reasonable volume trades.