A resurgent Myer has declared its best start to the financial year on record as online sales soar at the department store chain.
Chief executive John King told the company's annual general meeting on Thursday sales had continued their momentum of growth since COVID-19 lockdowns ended.
Sales for the first quarter of 2023 are up 18.9 per cent on the same period in 2020, before the start of the pandemic.
Compared to the lockdown-affected first quarter of 2022, sales were up 52.8 per cent.
"Importantly, we are not just getting growth but we are gaining market share," Mr King said.
Earlier this year, Myer declared its best second-half results in almost a decade, delivering its first final dividend since 2017.
Sales were up 12.5 per cent in the 2022 financial year to nearly $3 billion, including online purchases of $723 million - up 34 per cent for the 12-month period to account for nearly one-quarter of sales.
Myer declared a net profit of $49 million, up 5.7 per cent on the previous year, while debt was down.
The department store chain has been aggressively expanding its online division and is due to next year open a 40,000sq m national distribution centre in Ravenhall, Victoria featuring robotic technology to streamline deliveries.
At the same time, Myer has been scaling back the size of its traditional bricks-and-mortar operation, cutting 119,000sq m or around 11 per cent of its total floor space since the first half of the 2018 financial year.
Mr King said Myer was targeting $1 billion in online sales and the company was reaping the benefits of its growing loyalty program.
"We are focused, well prepared and have a clear plan to capitalise on the Christmas peak trading period and the year ahead despite the uncertain economic outlook," he said.
The company's share price has doubled since mid-June, although it has shed around 80 per cent of its value since 2013.
At 2.45pm AEDT, Myer's share price was up 1.66 per cent to $0.61.
