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Retailers to be surveyed as internet sales hit local traders STEVE KELLY - Wangaratta Chronicle 05/08/2011 BUSINESS Wangaratta plans to introduce ways to help retail outlets combat a growing customer shift towards internet shopping. Wangaratta has not been insulated from a national decline in retail trade, which fell 0.1 per cent in June, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Business Wangaratta president David Lowe said the "internet is hitting us" and they will distribute surveys to see how the organisation can help. "There has been a shift towards internet shopping and some outlets might need to move with this trend and today's market change," he said. "We need to find out what businesses want in terms of support and a survey will give them the option to respond anonymously." Mr Lowe said businesses that get online can put their products out to a much wider audience. He said winter was generally a quieter time for retail sales, but with events like the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz coming up spending should lift. Reid Street jeweller David Roberts saw the beginning of a decline in turnover in mid 2010. It's a drop in sales he likens to the early 1990s when his business saw a decline that lasted five years. Mr Roberts said the reasons were low consumer confidence and the online market attracting more sales with the high Australian dollar. He said there had been a jump in customers bringing jewellery into his shop needing repair or alterations, after buying the items online. "People are holding onto their money more, as they're waiting to see what interest rates will do and how the economy overseas will further affect the Australian market," Mr Roberts said. "I don't see any short term improvement if the economy follows the same path as the recession years, which I think it will." But on a brighter note, the high Australian dollar has had the opposite effect on travel, with Wangaratta's Harvey World Travel agency seeing the most activity in years. Agency senior consultant, Amanda Coote, has worked there for three years and said it's "been the busiest by far". "Sales are up about 30 per cent with clients either wanting a quick get away to escape the cold weather or longer trips overseas to make the most of the high Australian dollar," she said. "Clients have been booking on average four week trips to Canada, Alaska, Europe and Hawaii for 2012, or one week trips to Broom, Queensland and Fiji." |