Sunday 20 April 2014

Retail Trends


Decline of Clothing Wholesalers – a recent report by Ibis World suggested that there was negative growth in the clothing wholesaling category in Australia as retailers increasingly go direct to manufacturers in places like China and Vietnam. However bypassing the wholesaler requires a certain volume of sales which may not be achievable by individual small retailers like market traders.


Retail Rents Continue Decline – in the real estate industry they call it negative re-leasing spreads as new leases are signed off at lower rents than the outgoing retailer was paying. The trends are consistent across department stores and chains as well as small independant retailers. Declines of 6-10% are being recorded in major shopping centres. However, the pattern is variable according to product category. Clothing and accessories is suffering a well documented decline while food service rents are showing a rise.