Hello and happy New Year!
I hope you all had a great break and found time to relax with family and friends. After two weeks spent doing absolutely nothing I’m certainly feeling renewed and ready for whatever 2017 has in store.
If you’re anything like me, your brain at this time of year will feel a bit like the picture above. January always offers the promise of a fresh start and with that comes so many new ideas and things to do.
Here are a few things I’ve been interested in this week:
I’m talking to… to kick start the year I spoke to three retail experts about what we can expect in the industry over the next 12 months. It was a really informative chat that covered the challenges, opportunities and (of course) Amazon’s arrival. You can read it here.
I’m thinking about… Australian businesses making it big overseas. Smiggle, Cotton On, Kikki K…there are so many home-grown companies doing great things abroad. Do you have the travel bug? Check out our story on how to get started in China.
I also spoke to Kate Morris, the founder of Adore Beauty, on taking her site global. The retailer recently launched an international expansion strategy that allows Adore to offer a localised shopping experience to customers in over 150 countries.
This comes after fantastic results in the local market, with Morris telling Retailbiz her business is on track to do about $24 million this financial year. Great stuff.
I’d just like to end on this positive note from my chat with Paul Greenberg, executive director of NORA:
“I’m optimistic about 2017….We saw a really solid end to the year which heralds well for a good 2017. The fundamentals are strong—retailers just need to polish the diamond.”
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