Australia’s

Retail Insights

To Survive in Digital Age

Person

As per the insights, whole retail market is shifting towards being Digital, while Australian Retail Market is still in its sprouting period.

This means opportunities are at the doorsteps of retailers to benefit from market growth. Following are some of the insights that will help retailers to survive in this digital age by identifying best practices and areas of improvement.

Primary Retail Sectors

  • Homewares & Hardwares
  • Food & Liquor
  • Clothing & Footwear
  • Other

Online

Retail Gaining

Momentum

towards digital
  • Retailers generating sales online
  • Retailers only focused on digital efforts
  • Sales via online, among multichannels retailers
  • 20%

    Retailers predict that online sales will grow 20% over the year ahead.

  • 40%

    Predicting an average of 40% sales growth by 2020.

Expected online sale by 2020

  • Homewares & Hardware
  • Food & liquor
  • Clothing & footwear
  • Other retail
  • No Sale
  • Less than 10%
  • Less than 20%
  • Less than 50%
  • More than 50%

Online spending & spending growth by age group

Shoppers are more comfortable & making higher value purchases online.

When it comes to shopping online, younger Australians are leading the way. The under 30s not only score for highest share of online spending, but the fastest rate of spending growth as well.

Average online transaction increased from $37 to $42 in the year 2016.

Average annual spend per shopper rose from $627 to $692.

Current online spend Expected online spend growth in future

Spending online more than ever before

  • Australians are not only spending more online but also buying high-priced items.
  • This means? There are still opportunities to drive online sales by harnessing brand strengths.

‘Domestic’ market is the focus

Most Australian online retailers remain focused on the domestic market, with only 21% generating sales offshore. Yet, survey shows retailers believe that there are opportunities to reach out to a wider market.

Digital retailers selling overseas are investing in:

  • Initiatives to localise their offers
  • Including discounted delivery
  • Targeted marketing strategies
  • Localised websites
  • 1

    Customer experience is the key

  • 2

    Website's visualisation & usability most effective

Retailers are more focused to create an outstanding customer experience to drive online sales.

The challenge

To convert a web browsing into actual sales by completing a purchase.

  • 17%

    Lack of integration with other channels / systems

  • 30%

    Cost of technology solutions

  • 24%

    Strength of competition

  • 28%

    Insufficient budget for marketing

  • 24%

    Lack of skilled resources / technical capability

  • 24%

    Keeping pace with consumer behaviour

Most effective Retailers undertaking strategy

Improving visualisation & usability of website

Offering better products or product range

More competitive Promotions

More effective Search Engine Optimisation

Improving cart & payment functionality

  • 3

    Mobile, the next retail frontier

  • 18%

    Online sales happen on a mobile device.

  • 1/3

    Retailers expect to make more than half of their online sale via mobile in next 12 months.

  • 46%

    Predict mobile devices will increase the level of competition they face.

Biggest threats in mobile commerce

  • 46%

    Competition

  • 8%

    Competitive pricing / Cheaper products

  • 21%

    Establishing / Keeping up with mobile ecommerce

  • 10%

    High costs / Lack of funds

  • 12%

    Lack of skills / strategy

  • 1/3

    Retailers optimising their websites for mobile use

  • 11%

    Plan to invest in mobility over the next 12 months

  • 1%

    Mobility is highest priority investment

  • 56%

    Website

  • 41%

    Social media

  • 41%

    Retail outlets

  • 33%

    Email

  • 11%

    Mobile

Effectiveness of data analytics for retailers

  • Not at all effective
  • Not very effective
  • Effective about average
  • Quite effective
  • Very effective
  • 8%
  • 23%
  • 33%
  • 25%
  • 11%
  • Optimise Your Site for Local Search
  • Optimise for the Mobile World
  • Use Pay Per Click Marketing Smartly
  • Consider Social Media Advertising Targeting Your Area
  • Use Search Engine Advertising — Locally Targeted
  • Measure the Full Impact of Your Marketing Efforts