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Clothing rental is taking off in Australia, with designers and retailers alike getting into the action with new apps catering for borrowing and renting clothing rather than buying.
Department stores have long been a popular hub for convenience, variety and discovery. However, the explosion in online shopping, continued expansion of floorspace and now the challenges of Covid-19 have seriously challenged their business model.
Australian retail sales grew 2.3% against the last year in March 2021, with several media reports highlighting the softening of retail demand. But the March headline growth number is misleading, given the 10% surge in March 2020 as panic buying took hold.
National Head of Retail & Consumer Products, Luke Ritchie, says retailers with deep connection to their customer communities are best placed to emerge stronger from the challenges wrought by the pandemic.
“Digital Transformation” is a common refrain amongst retailers grappling to respond to the explosion in online shopping brought on by the pandemic. Shrewd retailers understand this means far more than throwing money at a fancy website.
According to National Head of Retail & Consumer Products, Luke Ritchie, The explosion in online retail has been underlined by pureplay online businesses acquiring failing bricks-and-mortar retailers at bargain basement prices, only to relaunch them as online only operations.
The preliminary December 2020 retail figures from the ABS underline just how resilient the Australian retail sector has been throughout 2020.
For retailers, the Christmas period has always been make or break.
The economic health of the retail sector isn’t something that the Government can directly influence.
COVID-19 has changed the way we shop – perhaps forever. There is no retailer unaffected. But while many in the industry are experiencing hardships they might never bounce back from, it’s not all doom and gloom.
The coronavirus has turned retail on its head. Once we get through the pandemic restrictions, these five trends will drive retail over the coming years.