The Australian Centre for Retail Studies will soon release their comprehensive quantitative and qualitative online retail report entitled Australian Retail Industry – Adoption Plans for Online Advertising and E-tailing, which will be launched by IE Managing Director Rhys Hayes. This significant report will provide exceptional insight into the state of online retail channel marketing in Australia.

The report, co-sponsored by IE and Catalogue Central is the most in-depth and expertly researched source of online retail channel marketing data seen in Australia for some time, and amongst other key findings has uncovered that:

-       the development and success of online retailing is driven by the level of management support and the general organisational culture

-       staff knowledge and expertise are, generally speaking, a significant barrier to development in online channel marketing and retailing

-       the more successful online retailers have deliberately structured internal resources, hired staff with extensive online channel marketing experience and replaced more senior, and online channel resistant, staff with younger staff more enthusiastic about the online channel environment.

Other key findings include that while online retail channel marketing is still in its infancy, with less than 3% of total domestic retail revenue coming from online retail, demand is growing with sales forecast to reach $32bn in 2010, up from $23bn in 2008. Another key issue is that Australian online channel customers are frustrated by lack of domestic online availability, so therefore a staggering 43% of the online retail spend is heading to international retailers.

Explore other areas of online retail channel marketing covered in the report, including:

-       Online integration with backend processes

-       Upgrade your online store

The report Australian Retail Industry – Adoption Plans for Online Advertising and E-tailing will be launched in Melbourne on September 22nd, and in Sydney on September 24th.