Erica Berchtold’s arrival as chief executive of David Jones signals more than a change at the top of the 188-year-old department store. It also points to a sharper emphasis on fashion, digital growth and the operational discipline needed to support both.
Speaking at CeMAT Australia 2026 in conversation with Prological managing director Peter Jones, Berchtold set out a view of retail in which supply chain performance is not a support act but a core part of the commercial propo...
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sition. She argued that the movement of stock through warehouses and on to customers is as important to the business as the goods themselves, particularly at a time when retailers are facing tighter margins, rising costs and more price-sensitive shoppers.
Her remarks come as David Jones pushes ahead with its INSPIRE30 transformation plan, which is designed to improve the operating model, sharpen the merchandise mix and refresh the brand. The retailer has also secured a new three-year asset-backed lending facility with Hilco, giving it additional financial flexibility as it seeks to back growth initiatives and strengthen supplier relationships.
Berchtold, who became chief executive after serving as chief commercial officer since May 2025, is the first woman to lead David Jones. Her background includes senior roles at The Iconic, where she helped steer the online fashion retailer through a period of rapid pandemic-era growth, and at Rebel Sport and Mosaic Brands.
That experience shaped much of her message. She said retail teams must stop treating supply chain as an afterthought, recalling a period at The Iconic when warehouse capacity became the bottleneck that constrained sales. In her view, the lesson was clear: if product cannot move in and out efficiently, no amount of marketing can compensate.
She also warned against assuming that automation alone solves capacity constraints. At The Iconic, she said, the problem was not the machinery but the processes wrapped around it. For retailers considering costly new systems, her advice was to examine workflows first and technology second.
Looking ahead, Berchtold pointed to data, artificial intelligence and forecasting as the next critical tools for fashion retail, where inventory must be finely balanced. For a business such as David Jones, that means being able to predict demand more accurately, reduce excess stock and improve decision-making on future orders.
The comments fit with David Jones’ broader shift towards a leaner, more fashion-led model and a more integrated approach to online and store-based retail. Industry observers say that, for department stores in particular, the ability to knit together merchandising, logistics and digital execution may now matter as much as the products on the floor.
Source: Noah Wire Services
