Officeworks online outshines instore. Survey reveals the hits and misses in customer service. Officeworks has been revealed as one of the two best retailers to improve their online customer experience, according to Inside Retailing's 2026 Online CX Report. The report benchmarks 94 leading Australian retailers across nine categories, drawing on thousands of real mystery shopping experiences. Officeworks was ranked fourth on overall performance in the electronics category, behind JB Hi-Fi, Appliances Online and Bing Lee and ahead of Harvey Norman, The Good Guys and Kogan, the latter showing the most improvement in online performance over the past year. Officeworks' online performance ranking contrasts with the results of a recent CHOICE survey in which the retailer was ranked second-lowest after Bunnings on value for money while its customers were the most likely to have to wait a long time for service in-store. Returns and refunds a problem In 2026, the CX Repor t data shows the biggest customer service gap is happening after purchase, particularly across returns, refunds and resolution. The benchmark shows the strongest performers are consistent on three key fundamentals: functionality (does it work as promised), clarity (is key information easy to find and consistent), and expectation management (are updates timely and reduce uncertainty after purchase). A "difficult returns process" is now the number one reason shoppers don't come back, up 69 per cent year-on-year. Refund times range from seconds to 92 days and return authorisation wait times have more than doubled in 2026. Officeworks online with Snapchat Officeworks is the first retailer worldwide to activate Snapchat's advertising formats through Zitcha, an Australian-founded retail media platform. Snapchat is a visual messaging app that reaches more than 90 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds in Australia and boasts over eight million monthly users. The integration allows brands to utilise Snapchat's advertising formats, including Sponsored Snaps, Snap Ads, and Dynamic Product Ads, directly within the Zitcha platform. Officeworks has already launched a campaign for Microsoft using Snapchat offsite advertising through Zitcha, aiming to drive demand both online and in-store. Zitcha's integration seeks to link media investment with retail outcomes, measuring campaigns against product movement at the retailer. Andy Mossop, chief customer officer at Officeworks said: "As one of the first retailers globally to activate Snapchat through Zitcha, we're helping shape the future of retail media by connecting brands with audiences in more relevant and engaging ways. Just as importantly, we're committed to delivering meaningful, measurable results for our suppliers." Date Published: 25 August 2026

The 20 things Appliance Retailer learned from the JB Hi-Fi FY26 results. Here are 20 things Appliance Retailer learned from the FY26 results delivered yesterday by Group CEO, Nick Wells. * Record turnover: Group sales exceeded $11 billion for the first time - an increase of 4.6 per cent on the previous year that Wells described as a solid result "in an uncertain retail environment". EBIT, NPAT, EPS and the dividend paid were all higher than this time last year. * Value-driven customers: The electrical retailing industry is currently facing "a retail environment where customers are seeking value" and "a unique period for the technology categories with significant supplier price rises and availability challenges". * Price rises in tech: "Price rises and availability are impacting quite broadly and it does vary on the supplier, but we have seen material price rises and post those price rises we have seen changes to the frequency and depth of the promotional activity and that is also having an impact." * Jelly July: In Australia the three businesses had a tough July 2026 (compared to a year earlier). JB Hi-Fi was down 0.5% (comparable down 1.4%), The Good Guys was down 1.7% and e&s was down 2.7% (comparable down 4.0%). * Soft July and impact from promotional periods: "[July] is one month, it is a small month and it is not a promotional period," Wells said. "What we can see is the promotional periods are becoming increasingly important when customers are looking for value and so a period like end of financial year in June and Black Friday have become important and maybe it sucks a little bit out of the non-promotional periods like July." * Terry Smart returns: A company announcement issued to the ASX has confirmed former CEO Terry Smart will join the board on 5 October replacing another former CEO Richard Uechtritz who will retire from the board on 29 October after 15 years on the board and 10 years as CEO. * Responsible sustainability: After six consecutive years creating an annual Sustainability Report, JB Hi-Fi has now created its first Responsible Business Report. The company says its climate related disclosures are now contained in a Sustainability Report within their Annual Report. * Electronic shelf labels: JB Hi-Fi will introduce electronic shelf labels in 100 stores to allow staff to invest in customer facing roles * New stores: There will be four new JB Hi-Fi stores in FY27 and one store relocation as the brand continues to focus on regional locations. There will be one new store for The Good Guys store in FY27 (opening this week in Aura in Queensland) as well as five relocations and two extensions to right-size previously undersized stores and grow available selling space. The next e&s store will be the new-build Mornington store in Victoria currently under construction. New store locations for e&s are currently being identified. * Pro-Forma sales: Sales revenue at e&s has been impacted by the migration of wholesale sales to agency sales (such as Fisher & Paykel) that for external reporting purposes are recognised as a commission only. Total sales on a gross basis were up on the prior year. * Gross Margin: The company will continue to aim for gross margin around 22 per cent. * Online Sales: JB Hi-Fi now makes $1.28 billion from online sales or 17.2 per cent of total sales. Online sales in New Zealand are identical - representing 17.3 per cent of overall sales, after growing by 37.6 per cent over the last 12 months. The Good Guys generated $481 million in online sales or 16.4 per cent of total sales. * Good Guys, Good Result: Sales increased by 2.7 per cent to $2.94 billion taking share in the category despite a challenging market. Innovation in portable appliances delivered growth. Coffee and robotic vacs continue to perform. Cooking growth was driven by built-in cooking and rangehoods. Refrigeration growth was driven by consumers shifting into larger capacity models and audio also performed well driven by headphones. * JB Hi-Fi best sellers: Total sales within JB Hi-Fi grew by 4.4 per cent to $7.42 billion with growth in computers from AI-enabled PCs and gaming PCs. Mobile phone growth both in units and in ASPs. Within fitness, wearables continue to perform strongly as well as the expanded health and well-being categories. In small appliances, the momentum remains strong with lots of innovation led by coffee, robotic vacuums and kitchen appliances. * Renovating e&s: The last 12 months have been spent renovating the renovation specialists in terms of investing in people, website development and the market should expect green shoots over the year(s) ahead. Sales for the last 12 months were $273 million down 0.2 per cent with the new Hobart store included and down 3.2 per cent based on comparable store turnover a year earlier. EBIT was minus $400,000. Despite this result, could e&s potentially become a $1 billion business? * Retail Media: The company plans to expand its retail media network from 140 screens to 250 screens over the next 12 months to leverage significant online and in-store traffic to create unique multi-channel advertising experience for its partners. * AI: in addition to growing online, phone and chat sales channels to service customers, Wells confirmed investment in technology such as AI and Agentic Commerce using natural-language product search and agent-based shopping experiences. * NZ: Record sales in New Zealand with comparable sales up 15.3 per cent and 26 per cent once new stores are included "as the business continues to resonate with customers and expands its reach". The key growth areas were mobile phones, computers, audio, small appliances and games hardware. * A lot of staff: JB Hi-Fi employs 17,000 people across all businesses. By comparison Harvey Norman employs around 6,500 people locally and this grows to 12,000 people once the international businesses are included. * New e&s general manager: Speaking of staff, Alex Lass has been quietly appointed as GM retail operations at e&s - he was previously JB Hi-Fi general manager of training and development.

JB Hi-Fi appoints Alex Lass as e&s GM retail operations. Former JB Hi-Fi training manager Alex Lass has been promoted to the position of GM - retail operations at e&s. Lass has worked at JB Hi-Fi since 2009 that has included four years as a store manager, two years as regional manager - merchandise and seven years as area manager. Most recently Lass was the general manager of training and people development. JB Hi-Fi Group CEO Nick Wells told Appliance Retailer he was very pleased to appoint Lass to the role and he will report to Ben Normoyle who was appointed in May this year. All general managers within the e&s business report into Normoyle and Rob Sinclair remains as e&s CEO. During the JB Hi-Fi FY26 full year results presentation, Wells said the e&s business is continuing to invest in strategic initiatives to set it up for further growth in the years to come. "We are investing in e&s for future growth and we are really excited about the opportunity we have to grow e&s. It is a business that gives us access to expanded product categories and different customers such as developers and large commercial builders that we don't cater for in JB and The Good Guys. We have made some key management appointments who bring significant industry experience." Wells also confirmed the business will migrate the e&s website to Shopify in early 2027 to align with the rest of the business and to improve the online customer experience.