NAB has reported that online sales rose 21% in the 12 months
to April 2013 and this trend has serious implications for traders at QVM.
Hands up all those traders who thought that the end of the
GFC would herald a slow but steady recovery in business as financial markets
recovered. Hands up all those traders who, in fact, have seen a continued
decline in sales performance since the end of the GFC.
The retail media tells us that multi-channel marketing is
the way to go. That means websites, Facebook pages, twitter feeds, email
programs, mobile phone friendly apps, Google ads, and the list goes on. Nobody
can guarantee that going down the digital path will produce significant rewards and, for
small businesses that have relied on one retail channel for years (physical
market stalls), the switch is like climbing Mount Everest with your hands tied
behind your back.
Yet the evidence continues to mount. The percentage of Australian
retail sales conducted online is now around 6%.
In the UK it is 13% and tipped to reach 22% in 5 years. In Australia the
biggest online growth is in fashion, media, daily deals, and toys. At least two
of those categories are in our own backyard.
If you have the technical skills to immerse your business in
digital marketing, then get on your bike right now and start pedalling. If you
don’t have those skills, then we will have to find an alternative. Perhaps that
will be some sort of joint trader daily deals type website. Whatever that
alternative is, it will need a lot of work. In the meantime we need to maximise
our known strengths. In the top end we need to get as many tourists into the
market as we possibly can and we need to give them a service experience like no
other. Play to our strengths, and keep them loyal.
The future of retailing at QVM is a huge issue and this
article only finishes here because we have an editorial deadline. Continue the
debate with your work colleagues, business mentors, family members or just in
your own consciousness. It is a business imperative.