Retail, sales and consumer goods industry overview

Retail is one of Australia’s hotbeds of economy, with e-commerce setting the pace for brick-and-mortar stores in recent years — as you may have heard Gerry Harvey talking about on the news once or twice. The sale of consumer goods lining the aisles (or webpage tiles) of stores is used as a real-time indicator of financial upswing or downturn, as this fast-paced sector reacts instantaneously to the market. While consumer needs may vary, the need to produce consumer goods is consistent.

Graduates may find themselves working across functions such as marketing, finance, IT, research and development, and quality assurance. This could be for a ma-and-pa small business or a global brand with instant recognition (and same day delivery). People who like seeing innovation and change happen fast will enjoy working in retail and consumer goods, where your work is likely to be highly visible quite quickly.

With companies vying for consumer attention, there is a need for constant innovation, especially in product design and marketing. Steve Jobs famously reinvented Apple’s packaging to become a showstopper in itself, lending further excitement to the experience of unwrapping an exciting new good. This kind of ‘user experience’ has become a way for brands to set themselves apart from each other, while delighting the end customer. Manufacturing customer delight is serious business, and grads who have this kind of ‘empathy’ from the get-go will do well in this sector.

The average entry-level package in this sector is $67,500 and grads are expected to work on average 45 hours per week, making this a fairly hard-working group dollar for dollar.

Job market outlook

Asked to describe their top concerns for the coming year, consumer goods CEOs listed shifts in consumer spending and behaviour, tax burdens, exchange rate volatility and overregulation. Unfortunately, these are the type of challenges that are not always easy for a CEO to counteract with a simple change in strategy.

This has an impact on the industry at large, and it would be careless to ignore these concerns in a graduate industry outlook, but there are some key ways that the industry is responding: sharpening focus to key performing products, moving to direct-to-customer models, downsizing stores and closing brick-and-mortar in favour of online altogether, personalising and localising chain stores, and embracing social issues to create a feelgood factor.

Graduates that can adapt to change and work within a lean challenger business, or dream up solutions to problems faced by traditional brands and stores, will ensure their employability and longevity in an industry that has been changed dramatically by technological innovation.

Globalisation is giving small challenger businesses and niche producers everywhere the chance to do well, as consumer bases spread further and wider across the internet-connected world.