Woolworths has found new jobs for more than 1500 of its former Masters workers in Australia's biggest supermarket chain.
The company shut the doors on its monumentally unsuccessful hardware business on Sunday, when Masters finally ended its long-running fire sale.
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Pumpkin Patch fails to secure buyer
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About 1650 Masters staff of the former workforce of 6000, have accepted new roles at Woolworths' supermarket chain, a take-up rate that equates to just under half the number of people who were offered alternative jobs.
An additional 600 workers have taken roles at other, mainly hardware-aligned businesses through Woolworths' outplacement program instituted when the retailer announced plans to shut down the network by December.
Woolworths home improvement human resources director Gillian Davie said workers who didn't take up alternative employment offers were able to access redundancy payments, which included access to a job placement program.
"We are proud to say that every Masters store employee who wanted a job in Woolworths was given a job offer as per the commitment made by Brad Banducci at the time of the announcement of the home improvement exit," Ms Davie said.
It's been a rough year for Australia's retail sector with more than 9500 jobs torched by the collapse of Masters, iconic electronics chain Dick Smith and more recently children's retailer Pumpkin Patch.
The employment pain isn't over yet with Howards Storage World going into administration this week, just weeks after Payless Shoes was pushed into administration, putting as many as 900 jobs at risk just weeks from Christmas.
Matthew Dickson was working as an assistant store manager at Masters but he's moved from Newcastle to take a store manager role with Woolworths at Coonabarabran,two hours inland from Tamworth.
"It took a bit of decision making between my wife and I and we've got a nine-month-old son at home but we decided the opportunity was fantastic in the supermarket group and we decided to take the promotion and advance my career," Mr Dickson said.
Mr Dickson said it was quite a transition, moving from hardware to grocery but he said there was also a lot of similarities.
"The main difference between hardware or home improvement and a supermarket is the product you are selling, you are still in a role where you are looking after a team and leading a team and making decisions based on the customers and that doesn't really change no matter what retailer you are working for," Mr Dickson said.
Retail analyst Steve Kulmar said the high number of Masters staff moving across to the Woolworths chain reflected just how tough it was in the retail sector and he warned the outlook was uncertain for retailers that hadn't kept up with the shopping habits of the Millennials.
"It's tough out there in retail in what has been a really difficult year," Mr Kulmar said.
"Millennials are now the dominant group and they have a very different approach to retail, which is more considered and they do a lot more research.
"They are inclined to shop less but they make very considered purchases and in-store or brand experiences play a massive role.
"A lot of retail businesses just don't know how to do that and I think they're secretly wishing they were still selling to impulsive baby boomers out of average stores."
The new year is unlikely to relieve the pressure on Australian retailers, according to insolvency group SV Partners, which said Australia's retail sector was looking even more vulnerable following the negative GPD result for the September quarter.
SV's latest commercial risk outlook report identified the retail sector as the "third most vulnerable industry in the economy with regards to the number of businesses at risk", behind construction in pole position and the professional, scientific and technical services sector in second spot.
Managing director Terry van der Velde said there was no doubt that retail businesses have been impacted and will continue to be vulnerable.
"One of the concerns out of the September GPD figures is the decline in consumer spending," Mr van der Velde said.
"With the continued uncertainty in Australia in relation to slowing employment numbers the outlook depends on both internal and external factors, which will continue to influence consumer spending."
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