Australian business must look to UK, US and India

Business looks to India

With China’s economy slowing, Australian business should focus on the healthier retail sectors around the world like the US, the UK and India

Australian business can drive a post-mining economy if it looks to new markets abroad and diversify at home, an analyst says.

This is particularly important for retailers – large and small – and businesses in the tourism sector. MasterCard Advisors senior vice president of market insights, Sarah Quinlan, says local retailers weren’t hit as hard as other countries by the global financial crisis due to the mining boom.

‘You guys had a cushion so you didn’t feel the pain as much,’ she told AAP.

‘Well now you are (feeling it).’

She said in a post-mining economy, Australian retailers should focus on the healthier retail sectors around the world like the US, the UK and India.

Ms Quinlan said local retailers can enter those markets and apply methods and tools from those markets at home.

She says it is clear local retailers should shift their focus from China, where the economy is slowing, to India.

‘China is just not going to be that support anymore,’ she warned.

Ms Quinlan said Australian tourism vendors should also chase American and British tourism dollars, rather the Chinese, as they spend the most while on holiday on average.

Ms Quinlan said tourists’ spending mirrored the strength of retail sectors in their respective countries, with the US and UK retail sectors currently ‘the healthiest in the world’.

US and UK retailers were performing so strongly, she said, because they offered a shopping experience tailored to the individual.

Multiple-channel retailing – online, mobile and app – along with in-store consumer experiences like restaurants for example, were part of that tailored approach.

She said Australian retail trade figures in January showed that local consumers preferred the tailored experience and local retailers should offer it to compete.

Australian retail sales grew 3.2% in December over the same month last year, carried by a 5.8% rise in clothing sales, the Mastercard Advisors SpendingPulse report showed on Monday.

However, department store sales declined for the third consecutive month.

‘Consumers are voting with their dollars and saying I want much more personalisation, I want to look different to everybody else, I want to know my retailer and I want them to know me,’ she added.

AAP and Inside Small Business