Last week Porter Novelli Melbourne hosted an AustraliaSCAN presentation by Quantum Market Research’s Imogen Randell. Australia Scan is an independent, cultural change monitor providing a view of Australians and how their behaviour is changing, and is the longest running social trends monitor of its kind in Australia. You may have seen some interest in The Age here.
Australia Scan provides fascinating insight into what we’re all feeling: Australians are becoming more conscious about their buck. We no longer appreciate discounts, we expect them – in supermarkets, at petrol stations, and in clothing stores. The statistics showed that we’re even more time poor than ever – working longer hours and spending more time in traffic on congested roads.
This got me thinking about the shift to online retail. Online stores provide a service that caters to our growing concerns about time and money. We’ve opened PayPal accounts, handed over addresses, and online shopping in Australia has grown 50% since 1998, says Australia Scan. While Spanish retailer Zara opens bricks and mortar shops in Australia, UK e-tailer ASOS has also launched offering a new way to fulfill our appetite for goods, and the notion of customer service is shifting from attentive staff in store to guaranteed and free overnight shipping.
If we’re shopping online, does that mean bricks and mortar retailing is offline? Where to from here? After revolution comes evolution. It’s not a war between the on and the off as speculated, rather it’s a mechanism for retailing models to change – and they are. But what’s missing is Australia’s ASOS or Shopbop.