Billabong have replaced long time employee Derek O’Neill with former Target boss Launa Inman as CEO. Inman’s skills seem to revolve around retail which suggests Billabong may be doubling down on their (so far) failed retail strategy rather than taking a different path. Got to admire the balls it takes to do that.

Inman’s recent success in increasing Target’s sales by $1 billion seems like it would make her a valuable asset but then when challenged that the Billabong customer might be different to a Target customer in a briefing, she goes and says, “‘The customer for ladieswear might have been 40 years old, but we also had the Hot Options label, where the average age was 18 to 35.” I have been the target consumer of Billabong clothing for longer than I can remember and you know the last time I stepped into a Target store to buy clothing? Never. Wouldn’t even enter my head to do so. If she’s drawing connections between the customers for those labels and a Billabong customer, she’s in for a shock.

Read the full article over at the Sydney Morning Herald.