Retail management : Retailing Sector in Australia

Retail Management

Retail management
Executive summary
Retailing sector in Australia has been growing and booming. In the 21st century, there is a high
demand of the companies who are offering different products and services in the market.
Department stores and discount stores emphasizes on satisfying the needs of the customers by
offering the products at reasonable rate. In this paper, the emphasis will be given on the different
factors such as the changes and the development that took place in the retail sector and also the
drivers that impact the overall growth rate of the companies present in the Australian market.
Table of Contents
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Retail management
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Major changes and development in Australia’s retailing system....................................................2
Key drivers of retail format change in Australia.............................................................................3
Future face of retailing in Australia and alternative retail store options.........................................4
Conclusion and recommendations...................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5
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Retail management
Introduction
In this paper, the discussion will be made on the retailing system in Australia. It has been
examined that departmental stores and discount stores are evolving in 21st century. In Australia,
there are almost 140000 retail companies and Australia is also known as proud and colorful retail
heritage. There are different types of retail institutions such as department stores and discount
stores. Department stores are known as the retail establishment that provides a wide range of
customer goods in various categories of the products. In the present era, the department store has
made a drastic appearance in the 19th century and also focused on boosting the living standard of
the individuals. Presently, the departments offer different products such as clothing, furniture,
toys, cosmetics and toys. There are large retail outlets in Australia such as Woolworths (Cao and
Li, 2015).
It is analyzed that there are various retail organizations that are strongly represented in the
Australian market with the other retailing companies such as Gap, Apple and Zara and it is done
to capitalize the rising sales potential. Discount stores are also considered as the retail stores that
offers a wide range of goods (Wallace, Sperber and Mortimore, 2018). For example: IKEA is
one of the company in relation to home furnishings, home depot for hardware and construction
materials. There are varieties of products which are offered at low price and also at
knowledgeable service. These are the stores that are open only to particular groups such as for
cooperatives and government workers who are often considered as closed discount stores.
David Jones is one of the best examples of retailing sector that offers a wide range of products
and services in the Australian market. Currently, there are 45 stores of the company and also by
seeing the tough competition Myer and David Jones contemplate $3 Billion merger that offers
the chance to grow in market. The merger done by the company emphasizing on running the
separate department store brands that would be having the better equipped to compete effectively
in the changing retail sector (Financial review, 2019). Therefore, in this paper the discussion will
be made in the retailing system in the Australian market.
Major changes and development in Australia’s retailing system
There are various changes that have taken place in the retail sector over the last 10 years. The
changes are also concerned with the operational model, technology, marketing and physical
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Retail management
store. It can be agreed that retailing sector will be different in 5-10 years as new technologies are
introducing in the market. These stores will be different in the coming future as compared to the
other outlets, as the main emphasis of the retailing sector is to adopt the latest technology that is
present in the market. For example: Woolworths has introduced the new surveillance technology
that helps to monitor the stores. The supermarket is introducing a new robot that will help to
maintain positive environment in the stores. These are the major developments that are
considered by the retail companies in the present business era (Burt, Johansson and Dawson,
2015).
There are also various major changes that can be analyzed and it relates with the change in
expectation and taste of the customers. Nowadays customers prefer those products that are
available at low cost and in an easy manner (Sorensen, 2016). Earlier, the customers are not
conscious about the ambience of the retail store but now the ambience is one of the major factors
that influence their buying decision. The expectation of the customers is to purchase the product
at low cost and this strategy of reducing the actual cost of the product is considered by many
retail outlets. Such as Coles, provide discount of different segment of the products that boost the
overall sales and also enhances the satisfaction level of the customers towards the services (Kim
and Min, 2015).
The advancement in technology is also one of major change that has taken place in the retailing
sector. It has been observed that growth of the retail sector is related with the advance
technologies used by the companies. The advancement in technology has focused on making the
purchase more convenient medium through online and mobile platforms. It is noticed that Coles
has created the new mobile wallet or it can be said a new digital payment services that can be
used in the physical stores and online channels. The company also has the mobile wallet app for
the iOS and Android that in introduced in 2014. It has been analyzed that this has helped the
company in boosting the satisfaction level of the customers and also enhanced their shopping
experience in relation to the company. Big W is also the Australian company that emphasizes on
offering different payment modes to its customers such as PayPal, after pay and also payment
through debit cards are accepted by the company. The overall transaction process has helped the
company in accomplishing the set goals and targets and also boosted the sales of retailing sector
in the present era (Cavallo, 2017). So, it can be said that these are the major changes that are
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Retail management
analyzed in the retailing sector in the Australian market. This has also given overall growth in
the highly competitive business environment.
Key drivers of retail format change in Australia
The retail format in the Australian market has been changed and the retailing sector has
achieving growth in the 21st century. The major reason is related with the technology as now the
individuals have started to consider online and mobile. Now, people can easily do their payment
through different mediums such as through different banking website of the company. Earlier,
customers pay their bills by withdrawing cash and their availability is also one of the factors but
now customers can purchase by sitting at any corner of the world. This is one of the changes that
have enhanced the demand of the products and services in the retail sector. The best example can
be of Amazon (Xsellco, 2019). It is analyzed that company has entered in the Australian market
in 2017/8 and has a high demand in terms of products and services offered in the market.
Amazon provides the platform of purchasing the products by doing transactions from Amazon
Pay and also from online banking is one of the medium which is accepted by the organization.
There are approximately, 14,000 sellers who have listed their products for sale but it is examined
that the customers of Australia are losing their interest in the online store platform. But Amazon
site attracted 14.3 Million visitors in the month of December. Therefore, it can be said that
technology and changing expectation of the customers is the key drivers that has changed the
retail format in Australia (Smith and Linden, 2017).
The next driver relates with the enhancement in the retail experience. The retail experience of the
customers has been enhanced as it has boosted the importance of retailing sector in the present
business world. For example: Woolworth’s has enhanced the experience of the customers by
providing good services and also home delivery is one of the best options which is considered
and changed the purchasing decisions of the customers. It is examined that social media is also
the key drivers of the retail format change in Australia as because of this the customer
preferences has been influenced. Social media has enhanced the awareness of the customers in
relation to the products and services offered in the market and due to this the success ratio has
been boosted of the companies present in the market. Amazon emphasizes on marketing its
products and services through social media platform such as Facebook and Twitter and due to
this the overall profits is boosted of the organization (Darke et al., 2016).
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Retail management
Future face of retailing in Australia and alternative retail store options
There are various factors that will affect the future face of retailing in the market of Australia.
One of the factors relates to omni channel payments. Cash less payment scope has been
enhanced in the present market as customers are focusing on doing payment through different
channels such as online banking and also by using different applications such as Google pay. For
example: Amazon focuses on the omni channel of payment through which it is easy for the
customers to make the payment and also to purchase the products easily (Brotchie et al., 2019).
So, Amazon is one of the company that promote cash- less transactions, so it can be stated that
retail sector has a bright future in the coming future. In future, the alternative retail store option
can be related to easy billing system. The companies can provide a feasible billing system in
which the customers can easily pay and purchase the products. Facial recognition technology can
also enhance personalize shopping experience of the customers (Pantano and Viassone, 2015).
Therefore, it is stated that the future face of the retail sector is profitable and also it is growing in
the highly competitive business world.
Conclusion and recommendations
By analyzing the paper it can be concluded that retailing sector in the present era is booming and
will achieve growth and success in the coming future. There are many companies such as
Amazon and Coles who have been successful and also accomplished their set targets. There are
also various key drivers such as technology and change in expectation and taste of the customers.
It is analyzed that there are various factors that has boosted the success rate of the retailing sector
in the market of Australia. The different factors are omni channel payments and face recognition
technology. So, by considering this it can be said that this can boost the success rate of the
company among the different competitors present in the market (Verhoef, Kannan and Inman,
2015). It is recommended that the retailing sector should emphasize on research and
development and should focus on the needs and wants of the customers so that success rate can
be maintained among the competitors present in the market. It is also recommended to launch
applications through which customers can easily order by sitting anywhere in the world. To
compete with the competitors preset in the market, in future the retailing companies should
emphasize on launching the innovative technologies that can help in boosting the customer
expectation and also it will directly enhance the satisfaction level of the consumers towards the
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Retail management
set goals and targets. It is recommended that if these strategies are considered then the future of
the retailing sector will be bright.
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Retail management
References
Brotchie, J., Newton, P., Hall, P. and Dickey, J. eds., 2019. East west perspectives on 21st
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Burt, S., Johansson, U. and Dawson, J., 2015. International retailing as embedded business
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Cao, L. and Li, L., 2015. The impact of cross-channel integration on retailers’ sales
growth. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), pp.198-216.
Cavallo, A., 2017. Are online and offline prices similar? Evidence from large multi-channel
retailers. American Economic Review, 107(1), pp.283-303.
Darke, P.R., Brady, M.K., Benedicktus, R.L. and Wilson, A.E., 2016. Feeling close from afar:
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Retailing, 92(3), pp.287-299.
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on-the-agenda-20180118-h0kn93. [Accessed on 27 August, 2019].
Kim, S.K. and Min, S., 2015. Business model innovation performance: when does adding a new
business model benefit an incumbent?. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1), pp.34-57.
Pantano, E. and Viassone, M., 2015. Engaging consumers on new integrated multichannel retail
settings: Challenges for retailers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 25, pp.106-114.
Smith, B. and Linden, G., 2017. Two decades of recommender systems at Amazon. com. Ieee
internet computing, 21(3), pp.12-18.
Sorensen, H., 2016. Inside the mind of the shopper: The science of retailing. FT Press.
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Verhoef, P.C., Kannan, P.K. and Inman, J.J., 2015. From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel
retailing: introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of retailing, 91(2),
pp.174-181.
Wallace, C.A., Sperber, W.H. and Mortimore, S.E., 2018. Food safety for the 21st century:
Managing HACCP and food safety throughout the global supply chain. John Wiley & Sons.
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australia-e-commerce-growth/. [Accessed on 27 August, 2019].
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