Four ways to improve your click-and-collect operations

It’s not easy to provide stellar customer service with very little customer contact, but it is absolutely possible Retailers and...

It’s not easy to provide stellar customer service with very little customer contact, but it is absolutely possible Retailers and grocers have been preparing for an increase in online shopping over the past few years by expanding their “buy online, pick up in store” (BOPIS) service and introducing drive-up options...

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Inquiry by a prospective employee not “protected” under Fair Work Act

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman In a fascinating case before the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Steward considered whether...

By Andrew Piper and Alex Millman In a fascinating case before the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Steward considered whether a prospective employee has a workplace right to make inquiries about their prospective employment. Such a question obviously has significant ramifications for how an employer conducts itself when negotiating contract terms...

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Message from the CEO: 21 July 2020

The National Retail Association (NRA) has welcomed the today's announcement by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, extending the JobKeeper...

The National Retail Association (NRA) has welcomed the today's announcement by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, extending the JobKeeper subsidy from September 2020 to March 2021. By our calculations, $3.4 billion in retail sales were lost in the month of April during the height of the lockdown restrictions. If we...

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National Retail Association partners with Luemo, the trusted platform for maintaining wellbeing in the workplace

    Luemo Workplace Wellbeing and the National Retail Association (NRA) have formed a collaborative partnership to help retail businesses become...

    Luemo Workplace Wellbeing and the National Retail Association (NRA) have formed a collaborative partnership to help retail businesses become wellbeing workplaces. Luemo’s General Manager, Margaret Aboody says it is no surprise that smart businesses know an engaged and thriving workforce is a competitive edge. “People do amazing things when they feel...

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Optimism returning to small businesses in Australia, but fears of a slow rebound persist

The overwhelming majority of Australian small business owners (80 per cent) are optimistic their business will survive the COVID-19...

The overwhelming majority of Australian small business owners (80 per cent) are optimistic their business will survive the COVID-19 pandemic; however, if trade doesn’t pick up quickly enough, about half (52 per cent) fear for their long-term survival, according to this year’s Small Business Recovery research commissioned by American...

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Virtual TryOn at the Forefront of Reimagining the Retail Experience Post-Pandemic

As retailers across the nation reopen their doors, Aussie shoppers are returning to a drastically different era of retail. Waiting...

As retailers across the nation reopen their doors, Aussie shoppers are returning to a drastically different era of retail. Waiting lines, hand sanitiser stations and temperature checks have many shoppers questioning why they ever braved crowded car parks and noisy food courts to begin with. To top that off, several of...

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Message from the CEO: 14 July 2020

A week ago today, the Victorian Government announced Stage 3 Lockdown measures would be reimposed on metropolitan Melbourne and...

A week ago today, the Victorian Government announced Stage 3 Lockdown measures would be reimposed on metropolitan Melbourne and the Shire of Mitchell. Over the past two days, there is now a recommendation to wear face masks within these regions in order to contain the spread of the virus....

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Franchisor avoids penalties for failure to comply with invalid Notice to Produce

When the Fair Work Act 2009 was amended in 2017 to allow franchisors to be penalised for the non-compliance...

When the Fair Work Act 2009 was amended in 2017 to allow franchisors to be penalised for the non-compliance of their franchisees if they failed to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent contraventions from occurring, the Fair Work Ombudsman quickly placed the franchising model into its spotlight. This increased focus has...

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Your June activity statement is a lodgement you want to remember

The start of this new financial year is going to be quite different compared to years past when most...

The start of this new financial year is going to be quite different compared to years past when most of us were living a different type of life. However, what shouldn’t change is prioritising the lodgment of your June activity statement. That’s because additional cash flow boosts are being...

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FWC finds the limits to JobKeeper stand downs

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission has, for the first time in the short...

By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The Fair Work Commission has, for the first time in the short life of the JobKeeper jurisdiction, tested exactly how far a JobKeeper stand down direction can go in reducing an employee’s hours. In a decision handed down earlier this week, Deputy President...

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Message from the CEO: 7 July 2020

It’s a somber start to the week, as the rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases in Victoria has caused Queensland,...

It’s a somber start to the week, as the rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases in Victoria has caused Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT to close their borders to travellers from this state. We have seen the public housing estates go into complete lockdown, and the Premier of...

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What is headless eCommerce

The world of development and digital can sometimes throw terms and phrases at you that instantly pique your interest....

The world of development and digital can sometimes throw terms and phrases at you that instantly pique your interest. Headless eCommerce, or headless in general, is one of those concepts. One would presume that without a head, something is useless and unthinking. But as you will see, headless eCommerce is...

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You can’t stop the surge, but you can stay ahead of it. How to avoid out of stocks in periods of increased demand.

Recent research by Zebra Technologies shows that the pressure for retailers to avoid out of stocks has never been...

Recent research by Zebra Technologies shows that the pressure for retailers to avoid out of stocks has never been higher. In Zebra’s 2020 Global Shopper Study, a remarkable 39 percent of retail shoppers reported leaving a store without purchasing anything. Why? At least one item they wanted or needed was out...

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I am hearing a lot about cyber security in the news but does it really affect me as a SMB?…Read on and you might be surprised how much it does.

Firstly, it’s important to understand what cyber security is The key principles of cyber or Information Security is to protect...

Firstly, it’s important to understand what cyber security is The key principles of cyber or Information Security is to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of sensitive or critical data. Do I even have any critical data? Critical data is normally proprietary data, or regulatory data such as customer personal information, healthcare...

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Why you should make the move to Omnichannel Retail

You may have heard of Omnichannel marketing or retail. It’s a bit of a buzzword right now.  Yet few retailers...

You may have heard of Omnichannel marketing or retail. It’s a bit of a buzzword right now.  Yet few retailers have taken the leap to move to an omnichannel framework, let alone understand the concept and its impact on the bottom line. What is it? You’ve most likely got a multichannel framework...

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Cabinet Meeting announces business recovery NGO, possible eased restrictions

The National Cabinet Meeting on June 26th has brought more initiatives to light that are aimed at small business...

The National Cabinet Meeting on June 26th has brought more initiatives to light that are aimed at small business recovery. There was also talk of easing restrictions in the coming months, helping Australians prepare to go back to work in a COVID-safe environment and getting the economy moving again. The...

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