With the rise of internet shopping on sites like ASOS in Australia, Danielle Gay finds out how traditional local retailers will stand the aggressive competition.

The Australian Retailers Association is urging traditional local retailers to remain competitive, by boosting their online options. Image: maistora

Britain’s biggest online fashion store has launched in Australia, bringing with it increased competition for local retailers.

ASOS, which stands for As Seen on Screen, released its highly anticipated Australian URL in September.

Russell Zimmerman, Executive Director of the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), said the introduction of the site would bring further competition to local brick-and-mortar stores.

“Consumers are looking overseas for brands and they understand these brands,” he said. “We are all very much into the online scene at the moment.”

ASOS, which is marketed to 16-34 year-olds, sells cut-price fashion, with hundreds of new pieces added to the online store daily.

The cult website sees 13 million visitors to its UK site a month and has named Australia as its second biggest market after the UK.

Mr Zimmerman said the wide range of options is the biggest driver of the brand’s success.

Boasting 40,000 branded and own label product lines, ASOS is a virtual wardrobe, covering everything from dresses to beauty products.

“It’s their range, their offer, there’s a raft of reasons why the website works well,” said Mr Zimmerman.

The Australian URL has brought advantages for consumers with shorter delivery times and local returns, offering a faster exchange service.

It is a localised experience, with domestic currency options, and there are plans to base the apparel designs on Australian seasons.

Already, the website has ignited a positive response from Australian fans.

“ASOS welcome to Australia with arms wide open!” one fan wrote on Twitter, while another added: “Kind of feel the need to shop on ASOS Australia, just cos [sic] it launched.

However, the site has brought more online competition to already struggling brick-and-mortar retailers.

According to figures from retail forecasters Deloitte Access Economics, this year retailers had faced a small growth of just 1.5 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in 2010-2011.

Scott Ewing, researcher at The Swinburne Institute for Social Research said this is compared with domestic Australian online sales, which are at 4 per cent with a further 2 per cent going overseas.

“I think all traditional retailers should be considering the impact of online retail on their business,” said Mr Ewing, whose research is part of the World Internet Project.

Mr Zimmerman said the competition is good and believes it will encourage retailers to diversify their own range.

“This will make our Australian retailers look at their range and their offering to ensure they remain competitive to these overseas international brands,” he said.

“It’s a good thing all-round.”

Mr Zimmerman said the competition of international brands like ASOS should be seen as an opportunity.

ARA is urging retailers to remain competitive, by boosting their online options with a series of e-tail seminars.

“We’ve done two in Sydney and we’ve got another couple to go,” he said. “The reason we’re doing them is to ensure that we educate our retailers in the necessity to be in the online space.”

“They need to be in the online space to make sure that they’re competitive,” he said.

Mr Ewing agrees, saying he also urges retailers to consider what they can offer as a point of difference to online stores.

He said customer service and personalised advice are two things that keep consumers going back to traditional retailers.

“I think all retailers should be identifying their point of difference from online options and strengthening and communicating that point of difference,” said Mr Ewing.

Mr Zimmerman said Australia is becoming a global marketplace and retailers need to consider this.

“We’re very much an international country now, we have a whole bunch of retailers coming to Australia,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re engaged with the consumer at that level.”