Melon Corporate Blog
Internet Retailing in Australia a Failure for Big Name Stores
I was interested to see an article in today’s Financial Review commentng on how online sales have been disappointing for stores such as Harvey Norman and David Jones.
You can see the article here.
The fact that major Australian retailing icons can’t make a success of online marketing reflects more about the companies attitude towards online retailing than online retailing per se.
I find it quite remarkable that niche websites such as Deals Direct can make a huge success of online retailing yet massive organisations such as Harvey Norman deem it a "waste of time".
I think it also goes to show that the online space has very different marketing and sales challenges to the bricks and mortar world. Gerry Harvey may think online sales are a "waste of time" but then again many online retailers would think bricks and mortar stores are a waste of time.
My gut instinct tells me that these organisations have not had the right people translating their offerings into the online world. With such strong brands they have a head start on the niche websites. I urge these stores to be careful in dismissing the online world so quickly.
They risk morphing from major players to niche players should smarter retailers integrate their offline and online retailing better then they do. Generation X and Generation Y are extremely comfortable in buying goods online - they would probably consider it ridiculous that someone like Harvey Norman and David Jones have a limited online presence.
These major Australian brands have been very succesful in the bricks and mortar world - with the right team and / or partners they could extend this success into the online world.
You can see the article here.
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Comments - oldest entries appear first, most recent entries at the end.
The fact that major Australian retailing icons can’t make a success of online marketing reflects more about the companies attitude towards online retailing than online retailing per se.
In my experience with dealing with retailers new to online marketing, most don’t seem to grasp the concept of SEO straight away. They tend to think that as long as the design of the site is flashy or easy, that visitors will somehow get to your site. On the other hand, I had design and development down initially but didn’t have the experience and knowledge in my own credit cards niche site to begin with.
By Mike on 06 06 2008
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