According to the latest Commonwealth Bank Retail Insights Report, 18% of the country’s online-only retailers are planning to establish a physical outlet in the year ahead, up from 13% in the previous half yearly report, and over three quarters of retail businesses will have a physical presence, itwire.com reports.
Retailers are also forecasting robust overall online sales, with an average 24% growth rate expected in 2017, up from 20% in H1 2016, while overall they expect 35% of online sales to come via mobile devices by July 2017.
According to the research, conducted for the Commonwealth Bank by ACA Research, technology budgets are again set to increase over the next 12 months with 45% of retailers expecting to lift investment and overall, the top priorities for investment are ecommerce, loyalty programmes and social media.
The report also shows that 46% pure play online retailers are expecting an improvement in conditions, compared to 28% among multi-channel businesses.
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