| Type | Public (ASX: HVN) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail: Computer, Electrical, Furniture and Bedding goods |
| Founded | Auburn, New South Wales (October 1982) |
| Headquarters | Homebush West, New South Wales, Australia |
| Key people | Gerry Harvey, Chairman/Co-Founder Ian Norman, Co-Founder John Slack-Smith, Chief Operating Officer Katie Page, Managing Director Chris Mentis, Chief Financial Officer |
| Revenue | A$7.76 billion (2011) Including revenue from franisee's |
| Operating income | A$417 million (2011) |
| Net income | A$252 million (2011) |
| Employees | Est. 10,000 (Australia Only) 407 (Homebush West Headquarters) (29 September 2006) |
| Website | www.harveynorman.com.au |
| References: [1] | |
Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based retailer of electrical, computer, furniture, entertainment and bedding goods. It is effectively a franchise and the main brand owned by Harvey Norman Holdings Limited.[2] There are more than 230 Harvey Norman stores [3][4][5][6][7] in Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Ireland, Malaysia, Croatia and Singapore altogether.[8]
Harvey Norman Holdings Limited is franchisor of several other Australian retail chains such as Domayne, Space Furniture, Ariston Appliances and Joyce Mayne.[2]
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Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman opened their first store in 1961, which specialised in electrical goods and appliances. Its success prompted Harvey and Norman to expand the business and conducted talks with retailer Keith Lord who sought to expand his own retail group. They could not settle on a name for the new business, with Harvey and Lord reluctant to take on the other's name. They eventually decided to retain Norman's name and that of its first store manager Peter Ross. This spawned the retail chain Norman Ross.[9]
Norman Ross became one of the largest appliance retail chains and by 1979 controlled 42 stores with sales exceeding $A240 million. In the early 1980s Alan Bond and Grace Bros. sought to acquire the chain, spawning a bidding war that saw Grace Bros incorporate the chain in 1982. Three weeks later however, a determined Alan Bond successfully convinced the Grace Bros. director Michael Grace to sell the chain to Bond. Shortly after, Harvey and Norman were given notice and redundancy package of six months pay. Reasons for their sacking were not publicised, although Harvey later told The Daily Telegraph:
| “ | I said I wished Bond would pack up his marbles and go back to Perth. Then I got a telegram telling me I was sacked. | ” |
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—Gerry Harvey[9] |
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Norman Ross later went into liquidation in 1992.[10] In October 1982, Harvey and Norman purchased a new shopping centre in outer Sydney suburb Auburn for $A3 million, and opened the first Harvey Norman store. The enterprise was intended to be a single store but its success led to the opening of others. Harvey Norman Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian stock market on 3 September 1987.
In the early 1990s Harvey Norman adopted the superstore format then successful in the United States and entered the computer and furniture markets. Harvey Norman growth came organically until it acquired Joyce Mayne in 1998. Further acquisitions followed and by 2000 the chain had 100 stores.[11]
Harvey Norman's operating structure is unusual in that each store department (bedding, furniture, computer and/or electrical) is operated by a separate franchisee. Thus many superstores are a combination of three or four separate businesses with each franchisee contributing revenue to Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd through lease payments and a portion of sales.
As each section is a separate franchise the salespeople will only work within their franchise, for example, an employee in the computer department will generally not be permitted to assist customers in the furniture, bedding and electrical departments.
Each department also has its own checkout for its products. The warehouse is shared by the separate franchisees.
Harvey Norman Design and Renovations is a subsidiary of Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. The design and renovations arm of the company specialises in bathroom, kitchen, wardrobe, home office, bars and home theatre renovations, and features showroom franchises in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. The Victorian and South Australian outlets have since closed, leaving 5 New South Wales outlets in operation.
In August 2007, market analysts suggested Harvey Norman would launch a rival "big-box" stationery and office supplies competitor to Officeworks before June 2008. Harvey Norman has registered the brand name OFIS and as a result of the acquisition of former Megamart and Retravision stores, has access to well-placed potential sites on which to open Officeworks-sized outlets.[12] In December 2007, Harvey Norman announced it would be opening its first two OFIS stores in Albury and the Sydney suburb of Auburn in March 2008. They aimed to have 100 stores within ten years.[13] In all, five OFIS outlets were established, but proved unprofitable and in February 2009 Harvey Norman stated it would close all of the stores by June 2009 and abandon the concept.[14]
Harvey Norman's stores are in:[15]
Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd operates Norman Ross stores in New Zealand. The first store, in New Zealand, started in 4 December 2007,1st floor, 28 Rutherford street, Lower Hutt, Wellington.
On 22 December 2011, Harvey Norman launched their online store Harvey Norman Direct Import based in Ireland to ship games to buyers in Australia.[16] The prices for video games are cheaper than the Australia-based online store of Harvey Norman.[17]
Flexirent has had very close ties to Harvey Norman since 1995 and is heavily marketed in stores. Flexirent is alleged to have strong elements of predatory lending practises.[28][29]
In addition, Gerry Harvey has himself asserted on primetime Australian television in a January 2008 airing of Today Tonight that Flexirent should be turned down by the average family. This is despite Harvey Norman's indiscriminate promotion of the product onto its entire customer base.[30]
Harvey Norman's major sponsorships include