This news comes as a relief after a tough year for retail. Amazon Australia, which was launched today and online shopping both pose a constant threat to the industry. However, it's positive to see that brick and motor stores are still very much part of the Australian shopping culture and will be for a long time.
Russell Zimmerman, ARA Director had this to say.
“While the latest retail trade figures have shown a considerable decline, our combined Christmas sales forecast with Roy Morgan demonstrate that Christmas sales will be a little bit better than recent figures; unfortunately this estimate is still well below the 4-5% growth that retailers would like to see this Christmas."
Although these numbers aren't high as expected, it's vital that retail operations have all their loss prevention measures and procedures in place. Minimising shrinkage, which is a massive cost to the overall Australian economy is one obvious way the retail industry can improve its margins into the future.
In the Retail Holiday Season Global Forecast, it's stated that "35% of the losses Australian retailers incur due to internal and external theft will come during the holiday season."
Now is the time for brands in the retail space to maximise this upcoming stretch, leveraging upon savvy store management that minimises shrinkage at all costs.
It's not too late to know if your store is best prepared going into the holiday period. Feel free to contact us below. We're more than happy to have a chat about the systems you currently have in place, and how things can be managed more efficiently.
Instore Team.
