Or holding on to an outdated business model?

Take a lead from these Indian ants. Adapt or else.

It’s time to be online

Commonwealth Bank’s Global Markets Research analysts recently produced a great report on the current state of Australia’s online retail industry.

It’s finally starting to soar – up 126% in volume and 90% in value versus last year.

Online retailing now makes up 3.8 per cent of total retail spending and 5.2 per cent of discretionary spending.

Apparently we spend roughly half on local websites and half offshore (however as you can see in the graph below, it’s 90% offshore for sporting goods!)

And more and more of us are engaging in daily deals (eg: Catch of the Day, Groupon, Scoopon, Cudo et al). The report confirms that group buying sites now account for 16% of the online retail volume and are growing at a staggering 557%!

Still reluctant to move on-line?

I recently met two retailers who were struggling to come to grips with online retailing in their business model. You can imagine my response.

Whilst online retailing may not necessarily dominate your traditional bricks and mortar business today, I believe it will help keep you IN BUSINESS over the coming years!