I received a call last week from an executive at a shop fitting company asking my view about the state of retail at present in Australia. My response was that at best it could be described as ‘flat’.
I suspect he was under pressure from the top, because he proceeded to trot out some numbers about retail sales being up by 3.5 per cent in July compared to last July – figures presumably tossed at him by the boss.
The reality is, despite pontificating by economists and politicians, hardly a week passes without a retailer of note folding or being reported in severe strife. This is quite apart from the smaller retailers that we do not hear about.
For example I have heard from two independent sources that there are about 80 stores standing vacant in Oxford St in Sydney, and while this may not be accurate, the reality on the street is what really counts – not the figures churned out by the ABS and others.
Despite the gloom and doom there are some retailers out there doing quite well.
There is no silver bullet but a respected colleague of mine chanced a reason why the bad guys are doing badly and why the good guys are doing better.
The word is adapt. Not new I know, and yet easily ignored.
We hear whinging on a regular basis about online sales robbing retailers of sales and the oh so tiresome debate about the GST threshold on imports. The reality is that some retailers are sitting on their hands.
Arguably there are some retail models that are broken and if they don’t adapt, they will expire. Take Dick Smith Electronics, or the newsagency model. I have even heard rumblings that the Harvey Norman model is broken or fast breaking. These retailers will fail to adapt at their peril.
My mentor went on to explain that in order to adapt, one has to listen, and learn first. Then adapt and succeed. And adapting might mean quitting.
He reckons that quitting when you are ahead is not the same as quitting. And he is quite right. It saddens me when I receive responses to my column from those who have closed their doors – too late.
There are many reasons – a lack of the will to adapt, insufficient resources to effect change, arrogance, ignorance, comfort and a naive over confidence in self belief.
*Stuart Bennie is a retail consultant at Impact Retailing. Email here.
