I was fortunate enough (representing PMA) to sit in on the Australian Govts Online Retail Forum last week in Sydney.Those attending were The Hon.Nick Sherry Minister for Small Business The Hon Stephen Conroy Minister for Broadband Deb Sharkey MD eBay Jason Pellegrino Google Plus representatives from PayPal,Australia Post and DHL There were some "heavy hitters "in the room! Obviously Stephen Conroy was promoting the NBN and what better way of doing it than cranking up on line trading! In summary : Australia Post stated 58% of Aust retailers are not on line % of sales on line is Aust 4%,USA 7%,UK 10% (we therefore have a long way to go?) "Anything,anyplace,anytime"seemed to be the catch cry for online. No "retail" rents was also quoted often as a major benefit. Google stated : 4 out of 5 consumers are now using the internet to research products. 2 out of 3 On line shoppers look to buy locally. Google experienced a 36% growth in searches over last year! Consumers now see no difference in "on line" or "off line" retail .Its all the same to most of them. 76 % of on line shoppers quote convenience as the main benefit of shopping on line (only 35% quoted price) PayPal said $26Billion was spent on line in 2010 with a projected 11% increase this year. Phones and price comparison APS are being used more and more in store Groupon (a new online site recently in Australia) went from $60M to 250M in one year internationally! Greys On line is now selling $300M PA .They started their on line business in 2000! They are selling in Australia 65000 cases of wine a month.They did not sell wine before! eBay stated Sales in Australia are up 38% on previous year! Many of their sales are for retail stores across Australia.Most of the products they sell are brand new. 68% of their shoppers want to buy locally. Red Lazer, the new AP from eBay allows consumer to scan bar code for price comparisons! Is that happening in your store? 6Mil visit eBay Australian site monthly. DHL stated their business model is rapidly changing from Business to Business to Business to Consumer Australia Post claimed 70% of their business is now e com driven. Australia Post also has a joint venture with China Post to deliver goods directly from China to consumers! We were handed "want to get your business online but not sure where to start?" Go to www.digitalbusiness.gov.au A truly fascinating insight into the growth of on line retail in Australia. The feeling I was left with was that if you are serious about retail,you need to have an online presence, as your customer expects you to be there.
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