While the retail environment in Australia is undergoing some of the most profound changes in recent times, retailers remain focused on short-term retail operations, a major study has found.
The Retail Meter project was developed by Monash University's Australian Centre for Retail Studies in conjunction with Coopers & Lybrand. Now in its second year, the project is surveying senior retail executives to assess their level of confidence in business for the previous year and to identify their major concerns for the next 12 months.
It is the only project in Australia which allows retailers to highlight their key issues of concern and compare them with other sectors.
Retail Meter '98 found that an overwhelming majority of retailers identified retail operations (the day-to-day running of stores) as their major concerns for the next 12 months, including improving profitability, innovative merchandising and developing new store formats and departments.
According to the centre's executive director, Dr Alan Treadgold, it is a great concern that Australian retailers continue to have such a narrow focus.
"We are surprised and concerned that retail operations still dominate the corporate agendas of senior retail management when the fundamental issues of the retail industry are much more long-term and structural," he says.
Dr Treadgold says that this year, the key issues for the retail industry are changes to the taxation system, the Asian economic crisis and the millennium bug. "The impact of these long-term issues may change the general direction of the retail industry, and retailers must be prepared for this."
Retail operational issues were also identified in Retail Meter '97 as the prime area of concern for Australian retailers, highlighting senior retail management's preoccupation with short-term results, according to Dr Treadgold.
He said the volatile nature of the retail environment meant that retailers needed to respond to changes quickly to remain profitable. This is why they continued to identify retail operations as their major concern.
After retail operations, the key management issues identified for 1998 were marketing, competition and consumer trends. The survey results also indicated that retailers were generally more positive about the retail environment in the last 12 months than they had been the year before.
"Australian retailers have always lacked information which tracks the changes of confidence in the retail industry," Dr Treadgold said.
"The Retail Meter helps fill this information gap, providing retailers with the opportunity to measure their concerns against those of the retail industry at large."
For a copy of the 1998 study, and information about how to become involved in 1999, contact the Australian Centre for Retail Studies on (03) 9903 2455 or check out the web site at www.buseco.monash.edu.au/Centres/ACRS