“Complacency in what we do is our death” – 2018 Retail Market Breakfast

The Property Council’s 2018 Retail Breakfast commenced Thursday 15th February, providing first hand analysis on developing consumer trends and economic drivers.

Keynote Speaker Ian Shimmin, Director of Urbis, contributed specialist insight into the major issues affecting public spending and suggested how retail property owners can maximise their success.

Ian explained increased inflation and a large household debt to wages ratio has negatively impacted consumer spending. These issues present challenges to the industry; However, opportunities are being presented due to population growth and discretionary spending, which has seen some improvements in regional Queensland.

Ian’s study showed a small increase of 1.3% total retail; Of the data collected, supermarkets witnessed a 3.4% increase, while department stores have seen a 0.7% decrease.

A factor that is frequently attributed to the decline in spending in the retail market is the emergence of online shopping, which has increased by 7.5% in the past 12 months.

Ultimately, Ian concluded online giants such as Amazon are not to blame for the decrease in public spending. While online retail will continue to grow, the industry continues to be a large and deep market. He believes online retail presence will have an impact of less than 0.5%.

Following Ian’s presentation, a panel was moderated by Daniel Sutton, Property Council Queensland Retail Committee Chair, Vicinity Centre’s Regional General Manager Shopping Centre Qld. The panel members included: Justine Hughes, Head of Retail Management at AMP Capital; Gary McConaghy, Managing Director of McConaghy Properties and Ian Shimmin.

In response to public spending the panellists agreed customer experience and satisfaction is priority. Justine emphasised a “customer centric model”, focusing on talking to customers and tailoring shopping centres to the community.

Gary highlighted the importance of investing in the consumers, ensuring their experience is as convenient as possible, explaining: “Complacency in what we do is our death”. He also stressed the customer’s relationship with the retailer is of upmost importance.

Throughout, Ian suggested potential investment areas to increase customer satisfaction including: loyalty style lounges, ‘Appear Here’ stores and biophilic designs.

The Property Council thanks Ian, Justine, Gary and Daniel for sharing their insights and predictions for the upcoming year. 

Photos from the event can be viewed here.