KEY POINTS:
A Manukau woman has become the first Michael Hill salesperson to sell $1 million of jewellery in a year.
Rimma Mulligan beat 2000 other sales staff in New Zealand, Australia and Canada to win the challenge, and has been handed the keys to a $105,000 BMW 3 Series convertible for her efforts.
Michael Hill offered the car for the first time last year, just as the global recession started to hit.
Mulligan had until December 31 to make the sales, but hit her target by December 10.
"It demonstrates to the rest of our teams worldwide that you can still achieve amazing things even in difficult retail times," said Michael Hill chief executive Mike Parsell.
Mulligan set out to win the car from the moment she heard about the competition. She found care for her three children in order to work full-time and concentrate on the challenge.
"I calculated what I had to do for a week, and I said, 'Oh, I could do that,' and basically went for it," she said.
She visited customers in her own time to deliver hire purchase paperwork, arranged sales over the phone for people too busy to come into the store, and enlisted her husband's help to send a lot of his contacts her way.
"When you see a customer, don't presume they're not going to buy anything. You try absolutely 100 per cent with any customer, and upsell."
The win comes as Michael Hill prepares to deliver its half-year result next week. It has warned the market that trading for the six months to December would be "materially below" last year's record result of $19.45 million.
Much of the drop was caused by lower margins from the sale of goods, and one-off costs associated with an internal restructuring and a move into the United States market.
Chairman Michael Hill said tough retailing conditions in December meant the company had to "go on sale" in all markets earlier than normal.
The company's total sales for the six months were $226.9 million, up 8.7 per cent from the $208.8 million recorded in the same period last year. But same-store sales in New Zealand were down 9.3 per cent.
Michael Hill acquired 17 US stores from Whitehall Jewellers in September.
Parsell said this week the next 12 to 24 months were going to be challenging for retailers. Michael Hill's average sales and margins had improved in the past two years but it might not be able to sustain that.
"We may have to shift our focus and concentrate more on lower-priced items and transactions."
Michael Hill shares closed steady at 53c yesterday.
