Sunday 19 June 2016

Convenience, Convenience, Convenience

It has become a growing trend for retailers to position themselves at airports, train stations, and hotels. And the reason is that retailers are having to direct their offer to the growing need for retail convenience for their customers.

Jeans West recently opened its first airport store in WA and that is being repeated around the globe as retailers lock into a variety of local and international clientele, often with a few hours to kill, who are bound to one location. In our busy day to day lives, a forced dwell time becomes convenient shopping time. It is all about fitting as much as we can into hectic lifestyles.

Another handy dwell time for consumers is sitting on the couch at night which is why internet shopping and/or browsing, is so popular. When you are pressed for time it makes sense to do some pre-planning before the actual shopping trip.

And there are many examples of retailers doing things to ease the strain on
consumers. Harvey Norman recently announced a 3 hour delivery service in capital cities around Australia. Amazon Fresh is a home/business delivery service that has changed the face of fresh food purchasing in the US, is about to be launched in the UK, and according to Amazon it could be launched in Australia as early as next year.

Drone deliveries to the customer’s door are being trialled by Amazon and even our own Australia Post.

We recently reported that Woolworths are ramping up their convenience store program with smaller stores located near transport hubs and offering ready-to-go meals and snacks.

A big trend in the UK supermarket scene involves multi-course take away
meals – a main course, a dessert, and a bottle of wine all for under $20.

A separate article on Victraders this week examines the inconvenience of our sprawling market and how we can make it more convenient for shoppers by providing shopping precincts. Expect more to be written about this subject as retailers find new ways of making the humble process of shopping more convenient and enjoyable for time poor consumers.