The report says that online shopping expenditure in Australia is expected to reach $16 billion, a growth of 17.6% from the $13.6 billion expenditure in 2011 - 6.3% of total retail sales.
Australian online shopping expenditure is predicted to hit $26.9 billion by 2016 because of factors such as the entry of more online retailers, more manufacturers selling directly to consumer, more products and services from current online retailers and continued growth in consumers using mobile devices to browse and buy products wherever and whenever they want.
This is all a little "Captain Obvious". We all know online is growing, retail is threatened by a changing buisness environment and customers that expect to be able to shop in their own time and not when stores say so.
What can retailers do to stem the flow from their stores to the web?
The research report suggests "Consumer adaptive retailing". It's a nifty term that we think means "giving customers what they want". However, the journey to get to what customers want isn't going to be easy. It will mean, if we go by this report, greater integration of technology, both online and in-store, so that customers have access to multiple sales channels and better shopping experiences.
