Food advertising network, Gourmet Ads, has issued its predictions of what the online advertising landscape has in store for those who are looking at advertising in the food sector.  Speaking from Australia and operating as a global business, Gourmet Ads’s founder and managing director Benjamin Christie has tipped the following trends: 1. Media Buying with Data In 2011, one of the buzz terms was DMP (data management platform). Christie  predicts that digital media buyers will seek out media-buying... ...Read more »

Australia’s leading online commerce enablers are predicting this week will be the busiest online shopping week Australia has ever seen. PayPal, eBay and Australia Post have forecast their busiest online shopping day this year will be on Sunday 11 December 2011. According to PayPal’s Secure Insights report, eBay, PayPal and Australia Post predict a surge in spending this week as Australian consumers seek to save time and money by shopping for this year’s Christmas presents online... ...Read more »

Google Australia predicts strong growth for online presence of food and drink retail in Australia. Today, it offered advice to Australian retailers with an online presence as the market gears up for the holiday season. According to Google Australia’s figures, 31 per cent of online “Christmas” specific searches during 2011 involve the food and drink retail sector. Google Australia & New Zealand’s Head of Retail, Ross McDonald said today, “Over the next five weeks shopping-related... ...Read more »

A research report published this week by PayPal, Forrester Research, Nielsen and the Australian Centre for Retail Studies has claimed that retail in Australia is undergoing “monumental change”. PayPal’s report, titled “Secure Insight: Changing the Way we Pay”, said online shopping will grow by 12.2 per cent throughout 2012 in Australia. The report forecasts Australians will spend A$37.7 Billion shopping online by 2013, an increase of over a billion dollars since October 2010. The report... ...Read more »

An ambitious new online grocery store, Groceryrun.com.au, is being launched today. It aims to provide more competition for Australia’s leading supermarkets and is claiming its business will “halve grocery bills” of those who shop through it. Groceryrun.com.au says it has conducted a 12-month trial with “CatchOfTheDay” offering groceries as part of a two day monthly shopping event where the company claims it sold on average two grocery items a second and netted over $1 million in 48 hours. CatchOfTheDay... ...Read more »

The Productivity Commission, the Australian federal agency responsible for recommending key Australian government economic reforms, has recommended that the AUD$1,000 threshold exemption from Australian Goods and Services Tax on imports, should be “lowered significantly”. The GST-free threshold for imports predates the concept of online shopping. Conventional retailers have repeatedly expressed concerns over their disadvantage against online competitors with the latter being able to sell products... ...Read more »

Australian retailers are facing tougher times, as revealed by the latest figures.There has been a slowdown in spending growth as well as structural changes occurring in the retail sector in Australia. The slowdown facing the retail industry was acknowledged by the Reserve Bank governor, Glenn Stevens, in a speech given yesterday in Sydney. He noted that despite the fact that increase in household income has sped up over the past three years, Australian household consumption spending has in fact slowed... ...Read more »

Online retail giant Amazon has started selling grocery products in the UK, after its announcement earlier this week of a similar service in Germany. The online store will offer ambient and household products from brands like Kraft, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble and international brand suppliers Eurofoods, Tazaki and Bespoke. While offering individual items, the store also offers bulk-buy services for products like nappies, washing powders, pasta, rice, herbs, cooking oils and spices. Delivery... ...Read more »

Coles Supermarkets have expanded their online grocery shopping areas to include Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Towoomba, Darwin and selected Top End locations. Shoppers in the new areas will be able to use the Coles website to shop for over 18,000 product lines, including groceries, fresh produce, bakery, meat and deli products, which will be delivered to their homes. The new service will also create more than 20 jobs in Darwin and more than 85 in Tasmania, and has been welcomed by the Premier of... ...Read more »

US retail giant Walmart has announced plans to create Global.com, a new unit set up to improve its business online. The news is a further indication of the steady retail push toward the online channel. The unit will be headed by Wan Ling Martello, formerly the chief financial officer of Walmart International. She will assume the role of executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Online shopping has continued to significantly outpace the growth of traditional retail channels around... ...Read more »