The four Cs – convenience, choice, competitive prices and COVID-19 – will decide the retail battle and how it affects the structure and function of our cities.
Quiet hour is a strategy aimed at making retail spaces more inclusive for people who struggle with sensory overload, but they’re not the only ones who welcome a pause in the assault on their senses.
CBD retailers were already struggling before the pandemic. The contrast in fortunes with suburban retail activity is stark, and there are good reasons to think the shift could be permanent.
City by city, the data on CBD visitors vary with the severity of COVID-19 outbreaks and restrictions. But none of the CBDs has recovered former activity levels, and some might never fully recover.
If Australia follows international trends and allows supermarkets to open pharmacies, what are the effects on neighbouring pharmacies? And when does running a business mean health care suffers?
Marketers once liked to think they could virtually steer people through shops and malls. But it appears shoppers’ movements, possibly driven by primal instincts, aren’t so easily directed.
Urban retail space is being transformed yet again. Predictions of the demise of physical retailing in the face of online competition overlook its resilience over two centuries of disruptive innovations.
Department stores created many of the familiar aspects of modern retailing, from off-the rack clothing to loyalty cards. But much of their business has been taken by others.
The rapid penetration of internet technologies in Africa provides hope for e-commerce’s continued growth. Potential online stores need to understand what draws or pushes customers away.
Moves by major to supermarkets to only offer plastic bags for a charge could make these businesses more than a million dollars a year, but it may only have a small impact on the environment.
Unlike vision or touch, sound is much more difficult to control or avoid; music in particular spills across thresholds and intrudes into situations where it is unwelcome.
A mix of economic unease and fears of the growth of online shopping is pushing retailers to offer ever-steeper discounts, but there’s a better strategy to make it through the holidays in the black.
Interim Director, UWA Public Policy Institute; Associate Professor & Programme Co-ordinator (Masters of Public Policy), The University of Western Australia