Image: Albi at Reed Gift Fair
This week I’ve been busy visiting the Sydney gift fairs. Held by Reed Gift Fairs and the Australian Gifts and Homewares Association (AGHA), these are large events where gift and homewares wholesalers show off their products and brands and retailers make orders that will fill their shelves in the coming months.
Although trade fair time is exhausting—looking at so many beautiful products takes its toll—it always leaves me inspired and thinking about the power of merchandising. The best exhibitors put so much effort into their stands, designing setups that make an impact and let visitors easily see and experience the products.
Even if you’re not in the gift and homewares world, events like these are well worth a visit. You might pick up a few new visual merchandising ideas, or at the very least learn about the new trends coming through in interiors.
This week on Retailbiz we’re again considering the impact of Amazon’s arrival in Australia. Click here to read the new numbers put out by Nielsen that could be concerning—especially for electronics, books and apparel retailers. Do you have any thoughts on Amazon coming to Australia? Please share them in the comments below.
Following on from our story on Australian retailers’ success abroad, we have a good news story on an event hosted by the UK’s Department for International Trade in London this week, which celebrated the achievements of local retailers. Read that here.
There’s also a great partnership between two Australian retail technology companies that aims to combat the high rates of cart abandonment. Did you know three in four online carts are abandoned? Openpay and RainCheck are teaming up to help.
And, in news that has just come through, Aldi has been named the supermarket of the year (again). Click here to find out why.
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