Just about every day we read stories of retailers retreating from physical stores to online as a result of a seismic shift in online purchases. The Nine papers yesterday reported such a move by Accent Group.
Shares in major footwear retailer Accent Group soared 20 per cent after it announced plans to shut stores and shift major parts of its business online as part of a full re-evaluation of its 522-strong store network.
The ASX-listed operator of brands such as Platypus, Athlete’s Foot and Hype DC told investors on Monday it had witnessed a “seismic” shift towards online spending after stores were shut during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Digital sales have jumped from an average of $250,000 per day in early March to as much as $1.1 million per day during the last two weeks of April, a surge chief executive Daniel Agostinelli said was likely to persist.
“It is clear that there has been a seismic and most likely enduring shift in consumer behaviour away from traditional shopping centres to shopping online,” he said.
Plenty of newsagents are making the move. I see it through my POS software company, which develops websites for retailers too. I also see it through my work with newsXpress and the well-established integrated web strategy it has with and for its member retailers.
The current lockdown has educated shoppers about many things, including shopping online. Previous age barriers have been broken through as have barriers as to what people would actually buy online.
Being nimble is key now, nimble for the next few months and especially nimble about what is likely to follow this period.
We are in a period of change upon change upon change, and through all this there is opportunity, as businesses like Accent Group are leveraging.
Athlete’s Foot re opened most of if not all of there stores yesterday and the other two, Platypus and Hype DC plan to re open in May as originally planned. They are carefully watching the Retail sales as Spike in On line reached the $1m perday from $250k as recorded actually achieved 40% of all Sales when Retail was included and opened. It may well be a different story when Retail is again movingand just how much it does move,They do not believe it will go back to where they were however they are monitoring sales closely and are naturally delighted with the lockdown results.
Chang upon change upon change is spot on. Taking advantage of on line when shops are closed and public are indoors, is just picking low fruit. Guessing where the world will be in the medium term is impossible.
Will on line see exponential growth. If it does it would appear all major shopping malls are toast. They are already criticised for bland offerings and identical formats. Who will go there if they only offer what is online.
Will the China supply model continue. The political rhetoric is building, especially in Australia and USA. Will the public stop buying cheap tat or maybe just not return to buying at all.
Will borders reopen. The assumption is yes but not now. But it could be that multiculturalism will be seen to be the cause of the crisis. An inward looking world with reduced travel would be a very different place.
The questions are endless.
I guess the message for Accent Group is that although the online sales were great they still undersold their usual sales by 60%
They will see the level playing out over a period as you say Colin whenwhat happens where it happens etc. And I thought only Max Smart had Chaos to handle.