The retail industry in Australia is growing rapidly driven by social and economic developments. The major factors which are responsible for the growth of this retail industry are the rising population growth and the increasing purchasing power. This industry is targeted to expand at 2% CAGR from the year 2013-18. The growth of this industry in Australia among the other Asia Pacific countries is the second lowest (Willer and Lernoud 2016). The retail market I Australia is experiencing a positive growth rate over the other markets in the world. The important vendors in the retail market are ALDI Stores. Metcash, Wools worth, West farmers, etc. The retail sector is influenced by the growing disposable income, increase in the net worth of the individuals and the confidence of the consumers (tradingeconomics.com 2017).
The retail sales in Australia have increased to 3.30 % in May 2017 compared to the same month of 2016. The retail sale in Australia is estimated at 5.91% on an average from 1983- 2017. It attained the highest target of 12.70% on October 1985 and the lowest record of 2% in October, 2008. The trend estimate of the retail market in Australia grew at 0.3% in May 2017 with a rise of 0.3% in April and March of 2017(abs.gov.au 2017). Some of the states and union territories such as Victoria (0.6%), South Australia (0.5%), New South Wales (0.4%), Tasmania (0.4%) and Australian Capital Territory (0.5%) grew rapidly as estimated in May 2017. The growth in the retail sector has increased by 3.7% between the periods of September 2014 to the same month of the following year (euromonitor.com 2017)
The growing demand for the online experience of the customers is making it difficult for the retailers to refuse that there will be an evolution of a digital market in the future. The digitalization of the Australian retail market is below some of the top global leaders such as Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target and Costco. The consumers are getting involved in the content creation of the various products which they buy online through the digital channels. The retailers are outsourcing various business operations such as supply chain management, IT and procurement to provide cost efficient services to its customers (pc.gov.au 2017).
The beacon technology has become accessible and cost effective. In a promotion ran by Macy using beacons, the shoppers who used their app was given an opportunity to win $US1 million by visiting any stores among the 700 stores. The customers also want the stores assistants to guide them properly through the use of proper technology. According to a recent report, it was seen that 40% of the customers wants to be guided by smart phone or a tablet. The customers also want that they the retailers solve out their query and replies to their queries instantly by using beacon technology (theaustralian.com.au 2017).
The Australian IOT is set to target at $3.2 billion by 2019 with the various retailers, security consultants and software providers. Telstye predicted that it will increase its spending on IOT from $289 million in 2015 to $3.2 billion in 2019. This service will help the retailers to give a new experience to its customers (channellife.com.au 2017).
It has been found that 65% of the Australian retailers are using artificial intelligence as their marketing strategies. Moreover, it is expected that a growth of 88% is expected in the artificial intelligence marketing of the retail industry. Improves customer experience helps in the growth of retail investment and provides a difference between the services and products (applianceretailer.com.au 2017).
According to a report published in the Wall Street Journal, $US3.5 bn investment is done in venture capital for the augmented and virtual reality company in 2014-2015. The virtual reality requires the vision of the user to replace it within a closed environment whereas the augmented reality needs virtual objects on the real world (Moorhouse and Jung 2017.).
I have selected generator as the job cluster because it includes the retail supervisors, bank managers, cafe managers and interpreters. The young people who want to gain experience in this job cluster must engage themselves in various roles such as retail supervisors, telemarketers, sports coach, etc. The soft skills and the technical skills which are necessary for this job cluster are described below briefly.
Retail managers have to manage the customers as well as the store associates. So, it is necessary that I can manage the customers handling their queries and solving their problems. I need to have a proper communication skill for building my career in this domain. I need to be versatile and have a good understanding of the customer’s requirement. Moreover, I am also co-operating with my retail assistants and motivate them to boost up the sales. I must possess the leadership quality so that I can supervise my team members efficiently (Hurrell 2016).
Sales skill and leadership are important to succeed in this job cluster. I need to have a proper experience in sales and retail management so that I can train the sales associate and improve the sales growth. I should be a good planner and a troubleshooter. Moreover, it is also vital for me to create proper environment for the team workers to work efficiently (Nickson et al. 2016).
Basic literacy
A retail store manager must have a degree in retail management and a minimum experience in sales or other related products. Moreover, a person must also possess problem solving skills, technical skills and computer skills.
To be a successful retail manager, I must have patience to solve the problems of the customers, pay attention to the customers and must have clear communication skills. I must have the proper product knowledge and always use positive language to attract the customers. Time management skill is vital in this aspect.
It is necessary to build a rapport with the customer and develop a proper bridge with the customer. Moreover, it is also important to make the customer understand the usefulness of the products and lead him/her by the feel using positive statements. I must have the ability of perseverance and be able to work harder (Vokes and Limmer 2015).
A sales manager must have a well versed knowledge of the latest tools and technologies. I must know the proper use of these tools and how to use them when and where required. There might be various issues related with billing or internal process management. In such a situation, the sales manager must be able to handle those issues.
To be a successful sales manager, it is important to be optimistic. Though, one may not achieve a positive result always, but a manager must never go ahead with negative thoughts. I must also be extrovert and have a pleasing personality so that my team members and customers can approach me easily (Keevy and Perumal 2014).
Strategy
To be a successful retail manager, a proper strategic goal is very important. I must build a proper strategic plan through which I can utilize the firm’s resources efficiently though I can handle the resources (Samli and Brennan 2015)
It is important for a retail manager to minimize the cost structure and utilize the resources efficiently. I can handle this aspect very efficiently but I need to improve more on this field.
Style
I do not have my own personal innovational skills through which I can attract and motivate more customers and co-workers. This is a vital component for a successful retail manager.
Staff
I need to co-operate with my team members and motivate them to boost up the sales. Though, I am very co-operative and approachable but I need to develop certain tactics so that I can motivate my team members
Systems
A well developed system must be followed so that the whole process works efficiently. There must be a proper co-ordination between the customers, sales assistant, managers and the top level executives (Yan et al. 2016).
Skills
I must have all the essential skills which are necessary for a sales manager. I must have patience and try to build a strong rapport with the customers and team members.
Super-ordinate goals
I must organize meetings with the customers and develop new products in order to boost up the sales. This will help to make the company as one of the leading company in the world.
Strengths
I am extrovert and I can communicate with the customers properly, understand their needs and try to solve them accordingly. I am optimistic, flexible and can adapt to any situation quickly.
I lack innovative skills and this stands as an obstacle to develop my career in this path. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to handle arrogant customers as I get tensed and stressed quickly.
I can maintain proper co-ordination with my team members. I can also develop my career by pursuing certain technical courses and getting a good job experience. I can expand my career in merchandising or store management. The primary and the entry level opportunity which is best for me is retailing. I can also choose departmental manager as my career.
I do not have proper knowledge on the varied schemes and policies which are used by other companies to attract the customers and increase the sales. I lack specialization on certain fields which needs to be paid attention to boost up the sales (Kumar and Bansal 2015). Moreover, as online market is expanding, people are more attracted to it. So, pursuing a career in retailing after some years may not prove worthwhile. This is one of the biggest threat of pursuing a career in retailing.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be said that the retail market in Australia been increasing and this is a positive sign to expand the career in this field. Moreover, online sales are increasing rapidly than the store based retail sale. The development of various apps and beacons are attracting the customers. Various soft skills and technical knowledge are important to be a successful retail manager. Maintaining proper co-ordination with the customers and the co-workers are the major goals of a successful retail manager.
References
abs.gov.au 2017. Australian Retail. [online] Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Latestproducts/8501.0Main%20Features2May%202017?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=8501.0&issue=May%202017&num=&view= [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
applianceretailer.com.au 2017. Australian retailers quick to adopt artificial intelligence. [online] Available at: https://ww.applianceretailer.com.au/2017/07/australian-retailers-quick-adopt-artificial-intelligence/#.WXWJIojyvIU [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
channellife.com.au 2017. Retailers among those to benefit from booming IoT at home market. [online] Available at: https://channellife.com.au/story/retailers-among-those-benefit-booming-iot-home-market/ [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
euromonitor.com 2017. Australia Retailing. [online] Available at: https://www.euromonitor.com/retailing-in-australia/report [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
Hurrell, S.A., 2016. Rethinking the soft skills deficit blame game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps. human relations, 69(3), pp.605-628.
Keevy, Z. and Perumal, J., 2014. Promoting transformational leadership practices of retail managers. Journal of Management Development, 33(10), pp.919-931.
Kumar, P. and Bansal, S., 2015. SWOT ANALYSIS: WHAT DOES FDI HOLD FOR THE INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR IN 21TH CENTURY?. International Journal of Research in Management, Economics & Commerce, 5(1).
Moorhouse, N. and Jung, T., 2017. Technological Innovations Transforming the Consumer Retail Experience: A Review of Literature.
Nickson, D., Price, R., Baxter-Reid, H. and Hurrell, S.A., 2016. Skill requirements in retail work: the case of high-end fashion retailing. Work, employment and society, p.0950017016672791.
pc.gov.au 2017. Economic Structure and Performance of the Australian Retail Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/retail-industry/report/retail-industry.pdf [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
Samli, A.C. and Brennan, W., 2015. The Use of Gap Analysis in Retailing: Management Versus Customer Perception of the Store image. In Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 237-241). Springer, Cham.
theaustralian.com.au 2017. Beacon technology targets consumers instore via smartphones. [online] Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-deal-magazine/beacon-technology-targets-consumers-instore-via-smarthpones/news-story/2969863cf77caad786c792765a150d2c [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
tradingeconomics.com 2017. Australia Retail Sales. [online] Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/retail-sales-annual [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
Vokes, C. and Limmer, H., 2015. Sector insights: skills and performance challenges in the retail sector. Evidence report 95: July 2015.
Willer, H. and Lernoud, J., 2016. The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging trends 2016 (pp. 1-336). Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and IFOAM Organics International.
Yan, B., Wang, T., Liu, Y.P. and Liu, Y., 2016. Decision analysis of retailer-dominated dual-channel supply chain considering cost misreporting. International Journal of Production Economics, 178, pp.34-41.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download