Sunday 8 April 2018

The Importance of Tourism In The Upper Market


Tourism is a critically important aspect of business at QVM particularly in the Upper Market and perhaps its main benefit lies in its ability to insulate traders from the current crazy upside down and disruptive world of retailing.

Global retailing is in the middle of a revolution with aggressive online competition and worldwide expansion of equally aggressive bricks’n’mortar retailers. The competition is huge and it is little wonder that the big pie that belonged to QVM Traders in Melbourne’s CBD has been seriously fragmented. It is said that we can no longer sit and wait for customers to come to us but, when it comes to tourists, maybe we can.

At least that is the view of one of our key tourist traders who says that tourists are unlikely to come to Melbourne and then go online to find the cheapest products in a global market. They are here in Melbourne to shop and QVM is a great place for customers looking for souvenirs of their trip or just to stock up on items they can’t get at home.

Of course we can’t be complacent. One thing that global exposure does is clearly identify value and we need to be very attentive to pricing, offer and service if we are to remain a preferred destination for visitors. Direct sourcing, volume purchases, and constant range evaluation are critical to successful trading.

Perhaps the lesson from this article is that if your product range at the market doesn’t include items that are likely to appeal to the captive tourist market, what is holding you back?