As more customers are shopping online, Australian retailers are focusing on smaller stores with more localised ranges. A smaller offline apparel market means brands will need to rethink the way they reach their customers. Brands are becoming less reliant on being stocked in bricks-and-mortar stores and focus more on direct-to-consumer sales. It’s about a collection of 18 pieces that change every month and about not having stock in-store. There are possibilities and opportunities for small brands to be more nimble and respond to the market than with more stock. Emerging designers may be best placed to thrive in this changing bricks-and-mortar landscape because many of them are already questioning traditional ways of selling. Several Australian designers have returned to making products to order, which not only suits a smaller bricks-and-mortar footprint, but is also more sustainable.

Questions remain whether one-off factors have driven retail sales higher over the past two months, but recent economic data, particularly around the labor market, new car sales and tourism, has been strong. And Australia’s population is currently growing far quicker than what many previously thought. These are all factors that would generally support retail sales growth, and with consumer confidence also edging higher, it suggests that perhaps the outlook for retailers is not as bad as expected.