River Island wants to open stores in Australia following the launch of a dedicated website for the country yesterday. Retail Week takes a look at the retail market Down Under.

  • Much of Australia’s retail market is home-grown, giving European and Asian retailers the chance to offer shoppers something different.
  • Despite Australia being an English-speaking country, it has not been as attractive to retailers as the US. Planet Retail analyst Louise Howarth believes many retailers have previously shied away from opening in the southern hemisphere due to difficulties with setting up a supply chain. But as more retailers open in Asia and develop more global supply chains, Australia is becoming the next logical step for them.
  • Australia’s economy is quite detached from the rest of the world, making it an attractive prospect. Howarth says, “Australia has been secluded from the recession, so Australian retailers have performed relatively well.” Last year GDP grew 3.3% and it is forecast to grow 3% in 2013, however, consumer spending still remains a touch cautious due to the state of the global economy
  • Retailers Topshop and Ted Baker, have all opened stores in Oz with the latter planning to launch a dedicated website in the country next year. Asos has recorded booming business since launching a country-specific site there in 2011 with Australian shoppers making a purchase from Asos every six seconds.
  • However, Mothercare’s Australian arm collapsed into administration in January, shutting 49 stores after it had expanded too rapidly.
  • Although the fashion market is quite fragmented in Australia, Howarth says there isn’t much space for overseas grocers as the sector is saturated. The Australian grocery market is dominated by home-grown retailers Woolworths and Coles. Woolworths is no relation to the UK retailer of the same name, which went bust in 2008.
  • The online market is also quite immature. This is because many Australian retailers have not been willing to develop the logistics needed to offer delivery across the huge country.