WOW NEEDS exposure to the DIY market, we cannot keep expecting,...

WOW NEEDS exposure to the DIY market, we cannot keep expecting, forever, material growth from food - general merchandise will never return to an easy growth market for us, we NEED new growth sectors. Booze has been one, DIY - done right - can be another!  

Simply saying it's "too hard" or it doesn't "fit" [whatever that means], is accountant speech for, "let's not do anything in a considered and phased way and just sit here and slowly watch the biz go down the drain" - which, if WOW had never once made the then "radical decision" to commit to food retailing, is exactly what Woolworths [Oz] would have done, like the Woolworths brand in North America and the UK have already done - disappeared into history!

Food made the difference for us - it still offers a measure of potential, but we are already a very mature presence in that sector.

We need another, new sector of growth, a considered and phased push into DIY is still an opportunity. It takes 20yrs - not 20 months like the "nice suit" crowd who sold us Masters talked our then hyped management into believing!

Realities for WOW:
Food - mature and more fiercely competitive than ever, but we are well-established and a true market leader.
Booze - an adjunct to food, subject to govt interference and competition pressures - can be margin rewarding - but govts can [will] hit it hard in both regulation and taxation.
General Merchandise - Dying as we know it and will likely never again be a star for us.

So...........  ?????  global? or new markets in Oz? [sellout to Tesco, Walmart?]