Former chief executive of House of Fraser, John King, has been appointed CEO of Australian department store group Myer. He will replace Richard Umbers who stepped down in February. After starting his career in food retailing at Sainsbury's, John King moved to fashion with Marks & Spencer and Matalan, before leading House of Fraser in 2006 for eight years. He built up the department store's online presence as well as a range of own brand products, and negotiated better rent terms with landlords. The current troubles at House of Fraser would appear to be more the result of a lack of investment by Chinese owners rather than any of the measures John King put in place. Myer is facing significant changes both in consumer shopping habits, and in the retail environment where it is competing against South African-owned David Jones. Woolworths, owning David Jones, was rumoured some time ago to be evaluating a Myer take-over.