As for future growth in the present market, Coetzee
says it is likely to come from final stages of formalisation
of the market - taking a proper retail experience into
underdeveloped or under-serviced areas.
Coetzee also notes that while there will always be
talk of online retail being a threat to brick-and-mortar
shopping or international retailers being a threat to
our much-loved local players, threats to South African
retail in the short-and medium-term are macro.
Nonetheless, online shopping is certainly having
a growing impact on retail and shopping malls,
worldwide.
In the recent Cushman & Wakefield report titled:
Global Perspective on Retail: Online Retail. South Africa
– the only African country to feature - ranked 40th in
the top 50 countries globally for scale and potential for
online retail.
The report highlights several factors that significantly
influence on the size and scope of potential online
markets. Internet and mobile penetration remain the
biggest driving factors. South Africa’s Internet user
base is projected to reach 9 million users by 2014, with
most new users expected to access the Internet via
their cellphones.
Coetzee says that important information about
retailers embracing online retail is revealed in the
recently released report commissioned by the South
African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC).
According to this report, 58% of South Africans
participating in the survey weren’t shopping online,
but half of those not currently buying goods online
said they would switch to online shopping in the
future. If that’s not convincing enough, 27% of the
total market indicated that they will only use online
shopping in future.
Even more interesting was that 95% of the
participants admitted the touch and feel of a product
was still the most important. This suggests that while
an online presence for retailers is necessary, a real
experience for the consumer needs to be on offer too.
It also points to a strong future for shopping malls.
Online shopping in South Africa is estimated
at 0.8% of the total retail sales. This proportion is
still small but already represents R6 billion yearly.
It’s expected to increase over R18 billion by 2018
to 2020. The proportion of online shopping of total
retail sales will then increase to 2% to 3%, driven
strongly by smart phone apps.
Store siz e and layout planning is a l ready
challenging. Online buying trends are now adding
to this complexity. Each retailer has to decide if their
store is a warehouse, a showroom, a distribution
centre, a place where the experience is the main
draw card or a ‘brand pavilions’ to showcase their
products.
There are major opportunities to develop multi-
channel retail strategies, and this significant retail trend
will continue to have a great impact on future retailing.
This is why Coetzee works with retailers to
understand more about their businesses and retail
trends, so Redefine can identify the potential upside
for their malls and position its centres to outperform.
“As a group Redefine focuses on understanding
how key trends impact our assets,” says Coetzee.
“We’re working more closely with our retailers
to understand their strategies, needs and growth
prof iles going forward. We’re also aware that
many micro-location dynamics impact mall tenant
performance and we’re looking to better identify
these trends across and within our p ?'Ff????( ??$U4?U$4U0?&VFVf??P??wwr?&V??r?6?????6???W&6????F&???#0??Cp??