No more boundaries

Some of the world’s top online retailers have been building strong customer bases in Australia over the last few years. Just think of Amazon, StrawberryNet and eBay.  

Now here come the international bricks and mortar retailers with their online stores.  JC Penney have recently launched an online store with an Australian website URL and owned by a locally established licensee. This foray into Australia begs the question as to whether other big name retailers are about to do the same. 

Australians are the third biggest online consumers in the world pro-rata to population and while this is happening, some of our local retail giants like David Jones, Myer and Target have been slow to embrace online shopping. I’m sure this is about to all change. 

While our local market is being eroded by international online players, what are our retailers doing to break in to international markets. While there are some novel Australian online retail entrepreneurs selling their products overseas, are traditional retailers tapping into this great emerging opportunity?

Let’s not wait for the big global players to encroach into our space. Local retailers should improve their online stores and look to grow their customer base in international markets. It’s all happening out there!