Retailing News

Australia is experiencing consisten growth in online shopping sales as evidenced by the growth in freight from online shopping. According to Australia Posts comments in an article in the Courier mail volumes are increasing by 5-10% pa.

Extract from the article”

Queensland parcel operations manager Seth Grantley said 70 percent of Australia Post’s parcel business was generated from online shopping.
“And this area is continuing to grow as customers increasingly go online to do their shopping,” he said.
“In the Brisbane area, parcel volumes increased by 5 percent over the past 12 months.”
Mr Grantley said parcels were a major part of Australia Post’s future success, and a key platform of its business transformation strategy.
“Online purchasing in Australia is forecast to grow from around $27 billion last year, to almost $37 billion by 2013,” he said.

Slacks Creek’s Ali Norrie believes online shopping is the best way to save money.
“I have been shopping online since I can remember, probably since I got my first job in 2004,” she said.
“It was the price that attracted me to online shopping, items were always cheaper than in store and now it’s more about getting things I can’t find in store. Especially outfits, I can get something not many people have.”
Miss Norrie said she used eBay for purchasing make-up from America, cheaper than local stores.
“Usually for shoes and clothes I shop around on different (web)sites in America,” she said. “I haven’t had a problem with sizes, sometimes I take a stab in the dark and if it doesn’t fit, I can give it to someone else.” The 24-year-old accounts assistant said if products were cheaper in stores, she would shop in retail outlets.
“If items were available locally and at the same price, I would shop there, but I don’t feel bad about saving money,” she said.”

For more details see the Courier Mail

Retailers have been reassured that they can defy the impact of the boom in online shopping by enhancing the shopping experience for their customers.
Speaking to retail buyers at Reed Gift Fairs Sydney September as part of the inaugural Future Retailer seminar series, Brian Walker (left) of retail consulting company The Retail Doctor said that traditional tactile shopping had a strong future, but urged retailers to create a more personal experience.
“The key is to create a retail environment that is inspirational and experiential,” Walker said. “We know that 63 per cent of Australians say they prefer to touch, see and feel a product before they buy it, while 46 per cent say they like to talk to someone when shopping.”
Walker said that retail businesses can be extremely empowered by embracing the many touch points available to consumers, and that they must acknowledge the fact that it is now possible to buy at any time from anywhere in the world.
“Retailers need to understand that the point of sale is now ubiquitous,” Walker said. “Rather than asking ‘How do I bring people to my shop?’, retailers must ask ‘How do I bring the point of sale to my customer?’”

For more information visit: reedgiftfairs.com.au

Great news for me this month, I was featured in a full 2 page spread in the retailer’s magazine Giftrap!
The editor Gillian Samuel loved the images of my new Quirky Kooky range that I emailed her and a few weeks ago called me up out of the blue for a phone interview!
Never done anything like that before so it was a bit daunting, but she’s a great journalist, really easy to talk to and before I knew it we’d been chatting for about half an hour and she had pretty much my whole life story and how I came to be making these quirky cards!

I’ve never had anything like this happen to me before, it’s so exciting!
Already had loads of emails from people who’ve seen the article!!

Nat Bayley Greeting Cards

Title: Home & Giving Fair – February 2011
Location: Sydney Showgrounds Homewbush NSW
Link out: Click here
Description: Whatever the type of business you’re in, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for at Home & Giving Fair. Home & Giving Fair boasts an extraordinary range of gift and homeware ideas from over 52 different categories. You’ll be able to source everything from candles to candelabras; from the eclectic to the electronic and everything in-between.
Start Date: 2011-02-19
End Date: 2011-02-22