Aussie buyers increasingly buck online shopping for retail experience
Brick and mortar retail stores have bounced back from the impact of COVID-19, with recent figures indicating online retail trading only accounting for 10 per cent of retail spending in May.
While online sales remain strong, customers are being lured back to the in-person shopping experience.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for May 2022 highlights a steady decline for online retail turnover, with digital clicks now only accounting for 10.68 per cent – far lower than the initial COVID-19 jump to 24 per cent in April 2020.
According to Ray White Commercial head of research Vanessa Rader, larger shopping centres have seen the focus moving towards food and entertainment as department stores reduced their footprints and focused on convenience.
Bricks and mortar retail is enjoying a resurgence. Picture: Jeremy Piper
“Savvy retailers have used their brick and mortar stores to provide an immersive experience which translates into online sales, still capturing the sale but in a different format,” Ms Rader said.
“While for some there is still uncertainty surrounding physical retail shopfronts, they are certainly not dead.
“A continuing change to the retail mix is inevitable, adaptive reuse for some vacancies and moderation on returns for landlords is likely, however, the reducing proportion of online retail sales continue to point to our want to be in store, which is good news for the future of retail.”
Its not just retail stores experiencing a rebound from Covid, a recent string of hotels and pubs have been selling in NSW – some of which are well known community drinking establishments.
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Retailers are increasingly including immersive experiences in their shops.
Specialist real estate agency HTL Property has overseen a number of sales, many of which have not been made available to the market in over a decade.
Over the course of June, the company sold the Port Macquarie Hotel to an established hotelier, sold the Beaches Hotel in Merewether for a record price, the Caves Beach Hotel, the Beaufort Hotel and most recently the Manning River Hotel in Taree NSW.
This does not include similar sub-metro assets that were recently sold, including Kelso, Thomas Blamey and the Victoria Hotel in Wagga Wagga and the sale of the North Nowra Tavern.
Specialist real estate agency HTL Property has overseen a number of sales, many of which have not been made available to the market in over a decade.
HTL Property’s Director of the Asia Pacific Region Andrew Jolliffe said the value proposition for pubs remained strong primarily due to the ability to pass on costs and the flexibility to add alternative uses.
“I think what the travel and people movement restrictions imposed by COVID-19 have unearthed is a desire for people to spend more on less; and prioritise social interaction and experiences over more material items,” Mr Jolliffe said.
“To this end, hospitality businesses have found themselves in a sweet spot and accordingly revenues in all typical profit centres have enjoyed amplification.”
“Domestic tourism has enjoyed a significant increase in the visitation of sub-metro areas; and this has brought about a combination of both greater investor awareness for these target areas, and business models which are underwritten by substantially enhanced footfall.
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