Shane Scacco 13 August, 2014 Nielsen Australia’s grocery retail sector is evolving rapidly. Over the next three years major trends such as retail convergence, the influence of digital and social media, shifting consumer demographics and ethnicities and media fragmentation will collide to create an Australian retail landscape in 2017 which is vastly different to the current environment. Nowhere are these trends more evident than the online retail space. With internet penetration in Australia quickly approaching saturation point, connected device ownership growing significantly, and consumers’ attitudes toward online purchasing evolving, traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers are making a play to secure their digital footprint and make the challenging transition from offline to online to omni-channel. And while the digital transition for many other industries has been relatively straight-forward, the complexities of the grocery retailing sector has delivered an altogether different experience for grocery retailers. Customer loyalty is one of the biggest…

Rebecca Robbins August 14 The Washington Post Wal-Mart ascended to its place atop the totem pole of U.S. retail by focusing on big supercenters in rural and suburban markets. But today, it is counting on something entirely different — growth in its small but surging small-scale grocery store and e-commerce businesses — to compensate for poor performance in its traditional storefronts. The signs are not good for Wal-Mart’s U.S. business, which has taken a hit along with the rest of the retail industry as consumers keep their wallets close. On Thursday, the Bentonville, Ark.,-based retailer reported that its U.S. division, its most important market, had seen its seventh straight quarter of declining traffic and its sixth straight quarter without sales growth at stores open at least a year. But there was a silver lining: As Wal-Mart’s U.S. division struggles overall, its small-scale Neighborhood Market locations and e-commerce sales are thriving.…

August 15, 2014 The Age Airport officials are asking the Transportation Department to consider classifying e-cigarettes as hazardous materials after a Massachusetts fire marshal focuses on an e-cigarette as the possible cause of smoldering in a bag that had to be removed from a jet on Saturday night at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Baggage handlers pulled the bag off the jet, a JetBlue flight bound for Buffalo, New York, and put it out with a hand-held extinguisher. It was not clear if the combustion had reached the stage of fire. The episode raises the question of whether e-cigarettes that use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries should be added to the list of banned items, which already includes matches, flares and most batteries that are “spillable.” Ed Freni, director of aviation at the Massachusetts Port Authority, said it was clear that lithium-ion batteries posed a hazard. “The more you see these type of…

Dr Joanna McMillan August 15, 2014 The Age Yep that’s what is happening in Australia. In the midst of all our talk about the obesity epidemic and debating the optimal diet, junk food home delivery is here. If one thing is abundantly clear it is that we have a nutrition crisis in our country. Of course we’re not alone – pretty much every developed country, and many developing countries, are on the same path as us. But let’s be absolutely honest with ourselves about the situation. We have an explosion of diabetes where 280 Australians develop the condition every single day. One in 12 of us die every minute from cardiovascular disease. One in three women, and one in two men will be diagnosed with some form of cancer before their 85th birthday, if they make it that far. While of course many of these cases are due to factors…

Guardian Improved connectivity and in-store technology are changing the way we shop The role of the customer assistant is changing dramatically. Gone are the days when all you needed was a winning smile, helpfulness and the ability to operate a low-tech till to satisfy customer needs. Today, with bricks and mortar stores embracing new technology in order to compete with online outlets, digital skills are becoming increasingly critical for the shop assistant. From in-store connectivity to iPads, loyalty apps and self-service tills, technology and the infrastructure to support it is vital for creating the right in-store experience to attract and retain customers. But to what extent is this being exploited and how is the role of the customer assistant changing as a result? Connecting the consumer Many retailers are already reaping the benefits that in-store technology offers, in particular the opportunities that connectivity can bring. According to recent Arqiva research…