Essential Professional Development Workshops

NRA's National Retail Training + Development Centre offers a range of high quality, customised programs for retailers, designed to increase productivity,...

NRA's National Retail Training + Development Centre offers a range of high quality, customised programs for retailers, designed to increase productivity, revenue, staff retention, customer service and leadership. All of our programs are specifically designed to suit retailers' needs, but also draw on over 80 years' combined experience across multiple fields...

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NSW leads the way in retail spend: CommSec

How are retail businesses performing across each of Australia’s states and territories? Each quarter CommSec analyses key indicators across the...

How are retail businesses performing across each of Australia’s states and territories? Each quarter CommSec analyses key indicators across the Australian economy and compares current performance with decade averages, and each of the states. According to the CommSec State of the States January report, NSW has maintained the top spot on the retail...

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Pumpkin Patch to close February

by Inside Retail All Pumpkin Patch stores will close by mid-February after receivers were unable to entice a buyer for the...

by Inside Retail All Pumpkin Patch stores will close by mid-February after receivers were unable to entice a buyer for the failed children’s wear chain, which traded through the traditionally busy holiday period. Sixty-eight Pumpkin Patch and Charlie & Me stores employing 560 people will close by January 31, and the remaining...

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November shows strong online sales

The recently released NAB Online Retail Sales Index for November 2016 has shown that Australian consumers splashed around $21.4...

The recently released NAB Online Retail Sales Index for November 2016 has shown that Australian consumers splashed around $21.4 billion over the 12 months from November 2015 to November 2016. As usual, there was a significant boost in original sales for November 2016, due mainly to seasonal factors such as...

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Designing tomorrow’s training

SkillsIQ For retailers to thrive in today's climate a skilled workforce is imperative. Australian retailers have long been challenged by the...

SkillsIQ For retailers to thrive in today's climate a skilled workforce is imperative. Australian retailers have long been challenged by the availability of local talent to fill buying, planning and online retail roles. This shortage of skills is compounded by the lack of formal training options that support employers in growing...

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Sydney to host major Asia-Pacific retail conference and expo

Over 3000 executive retail delegates and 120 exhibitors are expected to descend upon the revamped International Convention Centre in...

Over 3000 executive retail delegates and 120 exhibitors are expected to descend upon the revamped International Convention Centre in Sydney in March for an all-encompassing retail event. To be held over three days in the new convention centre at Sydney’s Darling Harbour, Inside Retail Live will be a celebration of...

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Message from the CEO: 9 January 2017

Many of you may have been watching the media closely around the Christmas and New Year period especially in...

Many of you may have been watching the media closely around the Christmas and New Year period especially in relation to what we can all expect within retail in 2017. It has been reported that Australian retailers would rather forget 2016, with a “trolley full of famous names including Dick...

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Message from the CEO: 3 January 2017

A very happy new year to all of our members and to all of the retailers who read our...

A very happy new year to all of our members and to all of the retailers who read our newsletter! The question on every one’s lips is what we can expect in retail for 2017. According to Vend’s white paper, success for retailers in 2017 will depend upon whether they are: ...

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Message from the CEO: 28 December 2016

Boxing Day has lived up to being retail’s event of the year with increases seen in each state and...

Boxing Day has lived up to being retail’s event of the year with increases seen in each state and territory across the country. Nationally, consumers have spent around $2.28 billion nationwide in the Boxing Day sales, which is up from $2.19 billion on last year. We have certainly seen economy-wide...

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Record-breaking Boxing Day bonanza on the cards for Aussie retailers

MEDIA RELEASE The National Retail Association (NRA) has today predicted Australian consumers will spend a record-breaking $2.28 billion when the...

MEDIA RELEASE The National Retail Association (NRA) has today predicted Australian consumers will spend a record-breaking $2.28 billion when the roller doors go up this Boxing Day – the highest in Australia’s retail history. NRA CEO Dominique Lamb said shoppers this year were on track to spend around $100 million more...

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How’s your security?

If your retail business has little to no security policy in place, you run the risk of security breaches...

If your retail business has little to no security policy in place, you run the risk of security breaches which can cost time, money, consumer trust and can result in legal actions. What are the 4 main motivations for retailers to adopt security practices? Protection of operational systems (eg. system shutdown) A...

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Retailers & Government work together on plastic bag ban

The National Retail Association and the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection are working closely to ensure that...

The National Retail Association and the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection are working closely to ensure that Queensland’s proposed plastic bag ban is implemented with as little inconvenience to retailers and consumers as possible. The state-wide ban on the supply of lightweight plastic shopping bags is due to...

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Online sales for takeaway food grow dramatically

According to a report by Quantium, homewares, groceries, media, and fashion continue to dominate total spend of online retail,...

According to a report by Quantium, homewares, groceries, media, and fashion continue to dominate total spend of online retail, but the fastest growth is in takeaway food. Share of spend The top 4 categories - homewares, groceries, media, and fashion - account for 70% of the total amount of online spending...

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Retail Sales Analysis: Nov 2016

by Aaron Blackman CEO of Retail Express. Key insights across the retail industry from November 2016 November 2016 VS October 2016 Sporting...

by Aaron Blackman CEO of Retail Express. Key insights across the retail industry from November 2016 November 2016 VS October 2016 Sporting takes a dive in November sales Given the exceptional performance of all retail sectors last month, it’s not surprising that many retailers didn’t follow the same upward trend this month. Sporting...

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Businesses warned to be wary of counterfeit cash

UPDATE: In the last 24 hours, the National Retail Association has heard from members right across Australia, not just...

UPDATE: In the last 24 hours, the National Retail Association has heard from members right across Australia, not just Queensland, with sightings of counterfeit $50 and $100 notes in Victoria and New South Wales. We urge all retailers to inform your staff, read our tips below, and to inform...

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Message from the CEO: 5 December 2016

The positive signs for the end-of-year trading period continue to pop up, with two more pieces of data pointing...

The positive signs for the end-of-year trading period continue to pop up, with two more pieces of data pointing to a merry Christmas for Australian retail. Early last week, the ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating showed households are feel positive about their finances. Consumer confidence levels were well above the...

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