Christmas shopping in Brisbane once meant putting on the hat and gloves, going to town and spending the day at one of the late, great department stores: McWhirter's, Walton's, MacDonnell and East, or one of the survivors - DJs and Myer - and buying something for everyone in the one trip.
Now we can shop the world from the couch, on the train home, or lazing on the beach, says Dr Gary Mortimer from QUT's School of Business.
Dr Mortimer says this Christmas could be crucial for the survival of the upmarket department store, and their branch stores in particular.
"Department stores have just had a 4 per cent drop in sales, their worst quarter since 2005. Sales for Christmas 2011 were down on 2010 and 2012 isn't looking much better," Dr Mortimer said.
"The whole hassle of parking, carting purchases around, queuing to pay, and negotiating crowds has put all bricks and mortar retailers on the back foot when it comes to the ease of online shopping.
"As consumers, we have changed to time-restricted, cash-poor multi-taskers. For department stores, the first blow was the sprawl of suburbs and growth of the shopping centres which stopped us going to the city.
"They survived by moving into the shopping centres but now they have possibly left their run too late to adapt to the new wave of online retailers such as The Iconic and Milan Direct.
"These sites are winning over even the online risk-averse shoppers with their 100 day returns policy, super fast delivery and often no shipping fees."
Dr Mortimer said department stores were once places where we could buy dress fabric, sports goods, furniture, school shoes, electronics and even auto goods.
"Now the 'category killers' such as Ikea, Anaconda, Bunnings, JB Hi-Fi, A-mart, and Rebel dominate their respective categories," he said.
"The traditional department store shopper doesn't want 'cheap', they want value. The department stores should leave the one-day only sales and the 25 per cent off entire category sales to the discount department stores.
"They should concentrate on what they made their name in: superior service, expert advice and quality.
"It remains to be seen if the market is large enough for both up-market department stores in relation to changes in our shopping behaviour.
"There may be room for only one full line, up-market, department store. We may see rationalisation and a move back into the CBD and away from suburbs and regional centres."
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
Dr Mortimer: 0448 048 433
