A great year for shopping in stores

Now more than halfway through March, we’ve seen ABS data on retail sales that show January had overall marginal growth of 0.4%, which wasn’t too tough a month for retailers in general.

However, within the sale data, sales of household goods in retail fell by 4.6%, the steepest decline since the introduction of the GST in 2000.

This category reflects the challenging environment for retailers and manufacturers alike in the areas of technology, home entertainment and home furnishings. Of interest in the UK, homewares sale dropped in February by 0.7%.

In Australia the decline is partly driven by a soft housing market, but it’s also driven by an end of product lifecycle for many products within the technology and home entertainment space, which all conspire to arrive at a similar time. Expect to see significant change in store in the coming months as new products, and new ways of selling these products, appear in store.

A few predictions…

The tablet market will boom. Apple iPad 2, HTC flyer, Huawei, Samsung and every other key player will enter this space and change the way we all interact with each other via the web. tablets are easy, mobile, fast, intuitive and really do make life better.

The smartphone market will continue its boom. The first phone in the hands of a 12-year-old in 2011 will be a smartphone that is web enabled from day one, delivering a whole new generation of shoppers and users with very high expectations of access speeds, mobility and an insatiable hunger for content.

The inside of stores where technology is sold will become some of the most vibrant retail spaces to shop in this year – from small technology stores, duty free outlets, department stores and big box tech retailers. People will interact with technology and play with technology in store in a way that we haven’t seen since 2007, when ‘in store theatre’ budgets were cut.

The inside of grocery stores will become buzzy, busy and smell fantastic from 4pm until closing time on Thursday and Friday nights and most of Saturday and Sunday, as retailer driven in store theatre returns to the places where we buy food.

While we’ll see far more ‘prepared meal solutions’ on shelf, the real growth will continue to come from high quality raw ingredients, mixed with high quality part prepared specialist foods. Think fresh avocados with prepared salsa and chilli sauces, fresh mint and yoghurt with prepared curry sauces and pappadums.

Why do I say this? Why do I believe that retailers and manufacturers will invest more in the shopper experience in store this year than ever before? Because shoppers need to be wooed into stores and entertained more than ever before.

In the UK last week, researcher BDO reported that the number of Britons shopping in February fell by 5.2%, compared with the same month in 2010. Retail sales stats for February in the UK, while down 0.4% overall, showed that online sales grew, again by a huge 33%! Shoppers are spending but not in store. So they will need to be reminded of why visiting stores is such a great way to spend time.

I am going to enjoy my visits to stores this year!

In his role as CEO of CROSSMARK, Kevin Moore looks at the world of retailing from grocery to pharmacy, bottle shops to car dealers, corner store to department stores. In this insightful blog, Kevin covers retail news, ideas, companies and emerging opportunities in Australia, NZ, the US and Europe. His international career in sales and marketing has seen him responsible for business in over 40 countries, which has earned him grey hair and a wealth of expertise in international retailers and brands. CROSSMARK Asia Pacific is Australasia’s largest provider of retail marketing services, consulting to and servicing some of Australasia’s biggest retailers and manufacturers.