The debt-burdened retailer, which reported yesterday a fall in second-quarter sales, wants to boost store space productivity and e-commerce, as well as revive its high-margin private label brands such as Kelso.
Brookes and his team have been visiting stores as they focus on customer research.
"There does need to be a significant change in strategy ... even though the business has had five consecutive quarters of ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) growth - we're still well behind the pack in terms of sales "¦ we have the poorest space productivity in the country and we're working hard on it."
Brookes joined Edcon at the end of September after nearly a decade leading Myer, Australia's largest department store.
Edcon, once one of the retail sector crown jewels, was bought by Bain Capital for R25bn in 2007 in a deal that burdened the retail group with debt.
Over the three months to September 26, its net loss widened to R2.1bn, compared with a loss of R627m a year earlier. Over the quarter, its debt rose 15% to R27bn.
A decision to clear winter stock early hurt the group's gross profit margin, which declined to 35.4%, from 35.8% in the June quarter, partially offset by increasing first margins before clearance.
In the Edgars division, cash sales growth increased 6%. Credit sales growth declined 6.7%. Same store sales fell 2.6%.
The discount division suffered from a 10.7% drop in credit sales, resulting in retail sales decreasing 0.1%.
Same store sales were 2% lower. At CNA, same store sales slipped 5.6%.
The group's plan to return Edcon to its pre-eminent position in the market also included simplifying its business model and increasing credit sales through an in-house credit book and lay-byes, Brookes said.
"We are not in the midst of selling (noncore assets), but anything, everything and nothing could happen," Brookes said in a conference call. Capital expenditure of R600m-R700m has been pencilled in for the 2016 financial year.
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