After more than 15 months’ worth of emotive-charged campaigns and attempts by unions and the ALP to block the reduction in Sunday penalty rates, the full changes will finally come into effect this coming Sunday. Or will they? The ALP’s latest move in the ongoing battle against retail business owners is to introduce legislation in […]
It’s hard to believe that we’re now less than a fortnight until the end of the financial year, with winter having well and truly arrived! Last week saw the release of the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours. Many prominent Australians – including Olympic champion Dawn Fraser, Businesswoman Jennifer Westacott and para-athlete Kurt Fearnly – were among […]
How many great ideas can you think of that ended up having disastrously unforeseen consequences? Given this week’s plastic bag ban campaign launch in Queensland with the NRA’s campaign ambassador, Origin great Mal Meninga, the introduction of cane toads to gobble cane beetles munching on sugar cane crops seems like an appropriate example! But single-use […]
As you’re all aware, last Friday the Fair Work Commission (FWC) raised the national minimum wage by 3.5 per cent effective from July 1 2018. The FWC, the ACTU and other supporters of this decision seem to think that retail owners are swimming in cash at the moment. They must be living under a rock. […]
The old adage, fake it till you make it, tends not to apply to those cheap wares that are undeniably similar to ones from some of the world’s biggest luxury brands. British fashion house Burberry has this week lodged in New York a whopper lawsuit against Target for allegedly selling copycat Burberry wares, after it […]
As many of you are discovering the hard way, Facebook’s seismic algorithm shift in January has left even some of the best-performing retailers in a race to the bottom on their organic reach. Additionally, many retailers are also finding their paid spend has been rising incrementally and consistently in price, but is losing its power […]
The annual post-budget reporting doesn’t seem to change from year to year – the big winners and big losers, what’s in it for you, who thinks it’s magnificent, and who thinks it’s a load of garbage. However, the Budget itself is always different from ones gone before it, including this one, which is the Government’s […]
Words like relevance and identity have been bandied about NRA headquarters this week like a pack of double-coat Tim Tams, with so many of the big players in the news again. Myer’s still flailing, The Good Guys have lost some serious skin in the electronics category, and Esprit has announced its exiting Australia and New […]
The Meghan Markle Effect has been in full swing for some time, and if you check in with struggling Aussie retailer Oroton, her choice of handbag during a recent outing may have just saved the entire brand from going under. The brand is struggling badly here in Australia and is relatively unknown in the US, […]
The ACTU’s war against employers continues this week, with an outlandish claim that its push for a whopping 7.2 per cent increase to the minimum wage would create 87,000 new jobs over two years. As you know, upping your staff’s wages by $50 per week each is not going to help you create more work […]
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has upped the ante on its anti-business crusade, unveiling an alarming six-point plan it believes will lift wages. It’s a plan that’s more likely, however, to send businesses broke and cost Australians their jobs. Industry groups, including the NRA, have warned the unions’ bid for industry-wide bargaining and […]
Gift cards are back on the agenda this week, with the New South Wales Government’s new legislation to introduce mandatory three-year minimum expiry dates set to kick in this Saturday, March 31. While we were naturally not a great supporter of this move, the NRA’s extensive track record of collaborative consultation with governments on all […]
There are only 100 days to go before retailers across Queensland will be forced to permanently bin the plastic bag when the state-wide ban kicks into effect on July 1 2018. The ban includes all single-use, lightweight shopping bags with handles and a thickness under 35 microns. NRA Manager of Industry Policy David Stout said […]
When you argue for a 0 per cent rise in the minimum wage, you’re likely to attract a fair share of criticism, and over the past seven days, we certainly have. But in making such a controversial submission to the Annual Wage Review last week, we also brought an important conversation to the fore, highlighting […]
Brisbane CBD and Fortitude Valley retailers will band together next week, in the Australia-first, National Retail Association (NRA) SafeCity Network trial to share their experiences of retail crime, on the back of a spate of scammer incidents in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. NRA Policy Manager David Stout said that local businesses were fed up […]
Spanish fashion and accessories retailer Zara has announced it is launching an online shopping option for Australian consumers from March 14, and is rolling out free delivery (as well as click and collect) and free returns. It’s a move likely to at least rattle the immense market dominance of its online-only Australian competitor, The Iconic, […]
The National Retail Association (NRA) has today thanked the Queensland government for passing an amendment to allow non-exempt shops in regional Queensland to trade on Easter Saturday. In January the NRA identified that an amendment to the Trading (Allowable Hours) Act would result in many large retailers being forced to close their doors for four […]
Chemist Warehouse’s Jack Gance, Catch CEO Nati Harpaz, The Iconic COO Anna Lee… the list of industry heavyweights sharing their insights into the modern retail landscape during Inside Retail Live 2018’s three-day Melbourne event was staggering. I was honoured to be invited to panel alongside former Myer CEO Bernie Brookes and Blindspots author Bec Brideson […]
Actress and businesswoman Kate Hudson has spent the past week in Australia with the female support and entrepreneurship membership group, Business Chicks, where she attracted a sold out crowd at each of her three lunch events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The 39-year-old addressed around 5,000 people while she was here, and spent a considerable […]
It is with great pleasure I announce that the NRA Legal team has grown by one, with Lindsay Carroll joining us as Legal Practice Manager. Lindsay brings to NRA Legal significant legal and practical expertise on managing workplace relations strategy and risk. Lindsay started her working life in retail at one of Australia’s biggest discount […]