The Changing Face of Australian Supermarket Retailing Report

This report provides an executive summary of the Australian supermarket retailing system. It begins with an introduction to the Australian retail market, highlighting the changes and developments, including the rise of online channels, shifts in consumer behavior, and the impact of technology. The report discusses the key drivers behind these changes, such as technology and evolving consumer expectations. It examines the future of retailing, including alternative retail store options and the influence of factors like an aging population and the importance of transparency. The report concludes with recommendations for organizations to adapt to these changes, emphasizing the need for innovation, customer-centric strategies, and embracing technological advancements. It highlights the importance of continuous research, quick service, and efficient store presentation to meet the evolving demands of Australian consumers. The report also discusses the importance of global brand marketing and the adoption of technology to improve efficiency in departmental stores.

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Marketing

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Executive Summary
In the recent time, retailing stores become essential due to the presence of several products in
one store. Several changes have been seen due to the changing demand of customers. Every
organisation has started giving more emphasis on the online channel in Australia. This has
led the organisation to become technology enabled. Besides this, competition also increased
in the Australian supermarkets due to which new firms are coming with innovation and
creativity in their services. In future, mobile technology will take place in the retailing
business.

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Brief introduction about the Retailing system in Australia
Retailing is said to be the process of buying and selling the consumer services and goods to
the wide number of customers. The major objective of the retailing market is to gain the huge
profit. In the recent time, several changes are emerging in the retailing market of Australia.
Several changes are brought in the retailing supermarket such as generational preferences,
shift in the buying behaviour, economic pressure. Several brand manufacturers in Australian
retailing have historically built the retail proposition. The retailers in Australia are giving
emphasis on the competition. After the evolvement of supermarket demand, stores have
started reaching to the heights. Until the 1970, the en tire department stores were able to
purchase the loyalty from customers. All these have occurred with the help of store cards.
Departmental stores in Australia started as the retail innovators. Afterwards, they had to face
the changing consumer environment. The wide variety of products and scale of their
operation have started establishing the dominance in retail. By taking tenancies and ensuring
development in the shopping centres, innovation has sustained and department stores are able
to create the powerful competitor (Schiffling, Karamperidis and Nelson, 2015).
In Australia, Coles seen the opportunity of expansion and thereby launched the Kmart in the
year 1969. As compare to the past few years, retailing supermarkets have to change. Due to
the increasing demand of healthier and better quality food, it is not easy for the grocery
retailers to grow and sustain (Bilgihan, Kandampully and Zhang, 2016).It means that for
sustain in the market, retailer are required to become margin sensitive and cost competitive
across the business. In the report, discussion is carried on the retail management. It has also
discussed the elements that are responsible for the improvements in retailing system. At the
end, future face of Australia and recommendations are provided.
Major changes and developments in Australia’s retailing system
Retail industry in Australia is being reshaped by the interplay between social, economic,
technology, emergence of new channels and business models and changes in the expectations
of customers. Many big retail outlets are giving emphasis on the online business. Deep
discounting became the essential element in this industry due to the increasing competition.
Almost every business is providing discounts to customers so that they prefer to shop from
their store. Every retailing business line also started engaging in the promotional activities to
lower the competition with other firms. The success of online channels started contributing to

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the lessening store traffic. It is hard to ignore the fact that several retailers have maintained
the market share. Over the last few decades, online retailing is at boom by providing several
shopping benefits of the customers. In the recent time, the situation has come where non
retailer can get huge success without having the online channel. IN the 21st century, online
channel as well as Omni channel has gained the huge success by embracing the few
reservations. As compare to the last few years, there has been stronger growth seen in the
consumption of essential services and goods. Healthy spending has also increased by huge
decline in the market of Tobacco (Wei, Asian, Ertek and Hu, 2018). There were time when
Australia had very few shops of the coffee. Afterwards, sudden increase has been seen in the
growth of food and beverage. Large regional centres have gained the most of benefit from the
changes in online retailing (O’Mahony and Lobo, 2017).
Key drivers
The shift in the retailing supermarket of Australia, several elements are responsible. The
major driver is technology that has improved the data integrity, technological efficiency, as
well as profitability. Electronic transactions have also increased the sales volume in the retail
stores by increasing the delivery and customer service. Even the future of retailing will rely
on these kinds of connections by leveraging the true power of connected networks. In the
current scenario, it is true that the customers are buying big on one item. This provides the
great opportunity to retailer for leveraging the real time customer data. This data is also being
used to provide the seamless experience to the customers at the time of checkout. These
factors drive the engagement of customers in order to give them personalised shopping
experience (Mena and Bourlakis, 2016).
In addition to the technology, several drivers are also changing the phase of retailing in
Australia. 1990s have seen the data technology introduction into the retail for driving
technologies. Due to the remarkable shift in the demand of customers, retailing industry has
brought the several changes. Besides this, the frequent changes in the social media and
Facebook have also brought the remarkable shift. Consumers have also started expecting the
premium retailing experience on each of the platform. Mobile technology has taken the place
that provides the great opportunity in delivering the better shopping experience. Therefore,
mobile technological change is one such driver that brought the change in the retail system
(Teller, Alexander and Floh, 2016).

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Future face of retailing and alternative retail store option
In the recent time, competition has increased to a greater extent due to which retailing
industry is facing disruption. Several overseas businesses have entered the market and
bringing the new approach. Technology is changing the demand of customers. Due to this,
the future of retailing will include the multiple delivery platforms. Besides this, customers do
not want to go the store. They are expected to seek the online channel. Online shopping in
Australia is growing at a greater phase and will likely to go more in the near future. In order
to fulfil the customer expectation, retailers will also shift to the online platform. Social media
will also become essential in the Australian retailing. It will become the significant product
discovery tool for the customers of Australia (Rose, 2017).
Mobile computing business and technology will take place in order to increase the efficiency.
Several communication systems will also develop in order to maintain the competitive
advantage of the firm. The major shift will be seen in the telecommunication infrastructure
and IT will take the place (Moore, McDonald and Bartlett, 2018).
The need of customers to shop anytime is not only putting the impact on retail adoption but
also putting pressure on the retailers to adopt some of the new formats of retail. In future,
some of the stores will purely serve as the drive through pick up location. The reason is that
various shoppers will move away from the large stock up shopping trips in order to become
time-efficient, targeted. In the near future, some shoppers will serve as the product showroom
that will assist the customers to interact with sales associates as well as some other customers.
Brand stores will also be created in order to promote the brand. The major purpose of these
types of stores is to effectively communicate the brand’s values, community, and social
involvement (You and Barry, 2016).
In the near future, ageing population will be found that will ensure the several changes. They
will demand the several developments because they prefer to shop from the near retailing
shops where they live or work. These kinds of people will also drive the need more engaged
shopping experience. Besides this, the digital technologies are also shaping the experience of
customers. Several shopping malls can also start the loyalty programs that help them in
establishing the direct personal relationship with the customers. In the recent time, it is seen
that the around 5.5 million customers are active account holder that assist the business to sue
technology and data intelligently. Transparency has also gained the huge attention.
Customers have huge access regarding the information about brands, stores, and products

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with the help of online channel. These challenges put the retailer in a situation to be
transparent as well as honest with the service and product offering. It is true that no one really
what the future will hold. For example- providing the flexible services can satisfy the need
for better customer experience (Girod and Rugman, 2015).
In the recent time, Australia has alternative retail options. The first retailing option available
for the Australian customer is 7Eleven. It is an American multinational retailing chain that
tends to provide the convenience to consumers. It has also launched the “cashless and
cardless” concept in its retailing chain. Besides this, Aldi is also growing supermarket chain
that experiences the steady growth in the Australian supermarket. It has high trust and
reputation in the mind of buyer. It has also captured the huge market share of its several
competitors including Woolworths. In the near future also, it will avail the huge profit in the
Australian retailing market by adopting several innovative approaches.
Conclusion and Recommendations
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that the retailing system in Australia
has changed at a greater phase. Several drivers are changing the status of retailing
supermarket. Due to the increasing demand of various new innovative approaches, it becomes
essential for the retailing supermarket to frame such strategies that will satisfy the demand of
customers. Besides this, competition has also increased to a great extent (Sutton-Brady,
Kamvounias and Taylor, 2015). In order to beat the competition, several organisations are
also working well by formulating such strategies that will affect the customers positively.
It is true that the future of Australian retailing sector depends on the different forces. It is
therefore recommended to the organisation to effectively take into account the changing
expectations of customers. Organisation should also keep in mind the technological changes
and advancements that are brought in the environment. It is also suggested to add several
innovative features so that it becomes easy for the firms to convince customers. In order to
bring the effective changes, retailing strategies should frame such strategies by considering
the political conditions. The adoption of such strategies will help it in increasing the
customer’s demand. Due to the changing nature of the customers, it is also commended to the
organisation for bringing continuous innovation by ensuring proper research.

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For satisfying the expectations of customers, it is also endorsed to develop more quickness in
their activities. In the recent time, customers prefer to shop from that place that provides
faster services. Due to the growing population, the firms can use several platforms in order to
satisfy customers. It is already discussed that the sales will increase with the help of digital
channel. Due to this, it is also recommended to choose stores with the proper size. This will
reduce the cost of retailing store. Saving this cost, firms can give emphasis on the other
attributes. In the recent time, customers also want the good presentation of stores. By
considering this thing, retailing stores should give emphasis on the presentation of current
stores (Tan et al, 2018). It can be done by engaging talented staff with the help of training. It
is also suggested to give the proper attention on the home delivery service as well as online
selling due to the busy schedule of Australian customers. In the departmental stores, they
should also adopt such technology that will involve very less staff in the departmental stores.
From the previous discussion, it was stated that the retail stores should also adopt the brand
marketing across the world; this will help the retailing stores of Australian supermarket to
grab the future opportunities that are available outside the world.

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