How retailers in regional Victoria are compensating for decreasing foot traffic

Regional retailers are not immune to the current challenges the wider industry is facing – local traders in the Victorian town of Inglewood are also having to adapt to the cost-of-living and cost-of-trading crisis.

Inglewood’s Brooke Street is home to local shop fronts that have weathered not only the current economic storm but also physical storms and flooding. 

The Eucalyptus Distillery Museum, The Fat Butcher and antique store Fusspot were spotlighted in Welcome To Inglewood, a short film created by financial services company Zeller, which captured the charming but challenging local retail community.

Slowing down foot-traffic 

Bricks-and-mortar retailers like The Fat Butcher and Fusspot are dependent on foot traffic and tourists passing through the town.

In the last month, one of the most effective strategies the township has implemented to boost commerce was quite literally slowing down traffic by reducing the speed limit on Brooke Street to 40 kilometres an hour.

For Deborah Hancock, co-owner of The Fat Butcher, the reduced speed limit has been a minor change that has delivered huge results.

“It actually gets people to try and slowly drive through Inglewood and actually see what’s out and about, which is great,” Hancock told Inside Retail.

“I have noticed a little bit more flowing of customers coming through the door because of that – that’s probably been a massive change for Inglewood and I can see that it’s helped,” she added.

Looking beyond the Shire 

Like city and suburban retailers, regional retailers are having to turn their attention towards e-commerce.

To counter their dependence on foot traffic, both The Fat Butcher and Fusspots are having to re-think their approaches to local retail.

“A really good retail conversion rate would be 20 per cent to 25 per cent,” Catherine Norman, co-owner of Fusspots, told Inside Retail.

“So, for every 100 people, you get 20 sales or 25 sales, but we’ve noticed that the conversion rate nowadays is about down to 10 per cent,” she added.

The decrease in foot traffic in addition to the declining conversion rate has encouraged Fusspots to look beyond Inglewood and take the antique shop on the road to a fair in Bendigo, which is about 3 kilometres away. 

This is in addition to building out its e-commerce business which has attracted national and international customers.

Norman has innovated and iterated Fusspot’s business model with every change in consumer behaviour, natural disaster, global pandemic and trading crisis since its founding in 2006.

“If I hear the words ‘resilient’ and ‘pivot’ one more time… Because how many times can you turn yourself inside out?” questioned Norman. 

Similarly, The Fat Butcher is gearing up to partner with a new freight company that will help expand its consumer reach and reduce its dependency on local foot traffic.

“I like the touchy-feely thing but the world’s changed with Covid – people want to sit on their phone or sit on their computer and shop, so as much as I don’t want to, I think that’s where I need to go,” explained Hancock.

“That’s probably my next adventure thus far and trying to make items that I know that people can afford and that people will want to put in their freezer with a bit of variety at the same time,” she added. 

Facing the cost-crunch

In a small town like Inglewood, the cost-of-living crisis and the cost-of-trading crisis is not just a turn of phrase, it’s a tangible reality for small-business owners and residential neighbours.

Keeping prices affordable for customers is a priority for The Fat Butcher and its paddock-to-plate products.

“When you go through a drought, when you have no food and you have no water, of course, you have no income,” explained Hancock.

“We went through 10 years of drought here and some, so we know what it’s like not to have money – and we still don’t have a lot of money,” she added.

The Fat Butcher defies the narrative that local butchers are more expensive than supermarkets and deliberately doesn’t markup its products to assist with household budgets.

“I like to know that if someone walks into the shop with $5 I can feed them,” concluded Hancock.

“There’s something in that shop that I can feed a family of four or a family of six for $5 and I’m a happy person that got protein in their belly – that’s my main concern.” 

The post How retailers in regional Victoria are compensating for decreasing foot traffic appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.