Westfield Group voyages into online retailing

In an interesting development for online retailing in Australia, Westfield Group has set sail to target eCommerce by extending their powerhouse retail business model into the world of retailing online. Westfield is reported to be in the final stages of negotiations with its retailers to include an online arm to their agreements. Details of exactly how the online business model will work and what functions the online store will offer, both Westfield tenants and consumers, is yet to be announced.

In the late 1990's, Executive Chairman, Frank Lowy, canned proposals to enter into online retailing. This was just before the Dot Com bust, so it was probably a good decision in hind sight. Although, the reason for abandoning online plans at the time was purely because Lowy did not want to corrode foot traffic into retailers stores operating out of Westfield shopping centers. Today, in 2010, Westfield executives see the huge potential of investing in online. 'We have been monitoring the use of technology closely for the past decade, continually improving our capacity and making greater use of the internet to promote our centres and connect with our customers,'' Mr Lowy said. ''We will push on with this evolution during the year ahead.''

This could potentially be a massive boost to online retailing in Australia. I say 'potentially' only because there is so much they could get wrong in between, from designing the right business model for tenants to the actual building of the online mall features which ultimately could mean their focus is diverted from the number one reason for going into retailing ... the consumer. The consumer has so many choices online, if the consumer can not get what they need from Westfield online combined with a great experience, they will go elsewhere within a few clicks. We are a few years behind in online retailing compared to the US and the UK, Westfield should learn from their mistakes and start from where these countries are, not where they were 3 years ago. If they apply the same core principles to physical retailing into their online shopping mall they could quite easily become the number one online retailer in Australia very quickly. Having a trusted name like Westfield operating an online store would boost consumer confidence into spending online and would also give Australians a local option, where currently, we are resorting to overseas websites simply because there is a lack of online presence on our soil.

I think is very exciting and will be watching this space with bated breath.

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