Bunbury Retail

Hi! ~ For the first time in history, the status quo has changed regarding retail business. What has happened is not just a slow down in consumer spending but a massive change of the amount of money that circulates on a weekly basis.

The Collapse of the Retail demographic - Let's take a look at Bunbury for example. Say there is $50 million dollars a week circulating the Greater Bunbury area each week. Each person has their allocated 'weekly pocket money' to spend. Let's say $70 for an example. This is divided up between the shops they visit during the week and as a collective, everybody gets a piece of the pie, so to speak.

BUT.. suddenly consumers start to spend OUTSIDE of their local capture area! So instead of $50 million floating around Bunbury each week, it gets reduced to $45 million as 'Suzie' buys a new dress online from Sydney and Fred buys a new pair of shoes from Europe! The result is, that the physical business in that capture area starts to experience a downturn in revenue.

The media is putting this down to a loss of confidence and people are tightening their belts.. Yes, to a point, this is true.. but the BIG reason is that some of peoples weekly spend is going elsewhere.

How much? Well last year Australians spent around $13 BILLION dollars online.. and this is forecast to grow to $21 BILLION in just 3 years time!

Want more proof? Australia Post has increased its Parcel Post delivery to 7 days a week, just to keep up with demand.. and most of it is coming from online shopping. They lost money on delivering the daily mail but their Parcel Post recorded a record profit!

Bunburys main street, Victoria Street, is starting to suffer badly as retailers close up shop. As I write, there is around 1 business closing up very 6-8 weeks! The area is fast becoming void of conventional retailers! If you walk down Bunbury's main street and count the number of actual retailers who sell product, you will now find they are in a small minority.. and a lot of it is all to online shopping.

The UK is exporting over a million Pounds (Stirling) of goods to Australia every week, as the world discovers that it is no longer the World Wide Web, but the World Wide Shop!

The only way for physical retailers to strike back, is to increase the size of their business capture area and the easiest and cheapest way to do this is though a website, or Webstores as we call them.

Compared to setting up a physical store, a website is extremely cheap. Retailers already have the stock and staff. They just create a virtual outlet to sell that stock to consumers everywhere. .

Online skills training

In August last year, the Federal Government announced a $10 million Small Business Online program, which provides Government grants to organisations and businesses that deliver training and mentoring services to assist small companies/business increase their internet skills, enhance their website and Internet presence and develop their e-business potential.

The Small businesses Minister recognised that small business internet skills as a gap in need of development.

The Minister said that was disturbed to see that whilst a lot of small - medium sized businesses were online with an email address, only around 54% actually had a website. The Minister was quoted as saying, "Through the National Broadband Network, small businesses have an enormous opportunity to expand their existing market reach and reduce their costs through the Internet. But we can't take advantage of those opportunities if only 54% of small businesses remain hooked up with a web page"

"The main purpose of it is to get more small businesses really used to using the internet and websites to their advantage."

Small businesses have an enormous opportunity to expand their market reach and reduce their costs through the internet,

The objective of the Small Business Online program is to equip small businesses to go online and significantly enhance their web facilities and engage in e-business capabilities to help reduce their costs and improve their market opportunities.

but whilst the Small business minister, the Hon. Craig Emerson, described having a website as "a good start", he believes the program will also encourage small business owners to explore other online avenues, such as video conferencing.

Mediaworx website designers in Bunbury are also making a free website information seminars available to small businesses in the South West of WA. The role of a website is dramatically changing with around 85% of Australians now connected. Mr Reynolds said "A website should be a natural extension of your physical business, a place where you sell your products and services, a place where you make money!"

A lot of businesses treat their websites like a 'business card' without realising that it could be making money for them whilst they sleep!

This free, face to face program, takes a couple of hours and goes through the main points of having and developing a website and covers:

• Website setup and running costs.
• How to attract and retain customers.
• What makes a good website that sells.
• Making your website an extension to your business.
• Hardware & Software requirements.
• Q & A session. You have questions? We have answers.
• Understanding the information that is currently available.

This service is free to small business operators in Bunbury and the South West of WA, who wish to understand more about websites and the Internet and wish to take advantage of both current and soon coming technologies.

For your convenience, it can also be held at your place. You can simply book your spot by contacting us.

TOP OF PAGE