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Levi Strauss enjoyed an opening day boost on Wall Street as it returned to the stock market after a 34-year hiatus.

Traders at the New York Stock Exchange, who were permitted to wear jeans for the day, watched as shares in the world’s best-known jeans brand jumped by as much as 36 per cent.

The company was founded by Levi Strauss, a German immigrant, who began selling his blue jeans to Gold Rush prospectors from a shop in San Francisco in 1853.

Levi’s went public in 1971 but was taken private 14 years later by the founder’s descendants.

Levi’s priced its shares at $US17 each in its initial public offering, above the range of $US14 to $US16 it indicated last week, giving it a valuation of $US6.6 billion.

By the afternoon in New York the shares, trading under the ticker LEVI, were at $US22.58, a gain of $US5.58, or 32.9 per cent, valuing the company at $US8.2 billion.

The New York Stock Exchange dropped its strict dress code for one day only to allow traders and Levi’s executives to wear jeans.

Normally, male traders must wear suits, shirts and ties “knotted at the customary place, ie, snug to the collar” and female traders must wear “suitable business attire . . . at appropriate business lengths”.

Strauss’s descendants will share $US462 million of the $US623 million raised from the IPO, with the balance going to the company and its underwriters.

In a filing last month, Levi’s said that it expected to make acquisitions to “drive further brand and category diversification” as it expands outside denim, where it makes most of its money.

Levi’s was brought back to the market by Charles “Chip” Bergh, chief executive since 2011. Mr Bergh, 60, who previously led Procter and Gamble’s grooming business, has been credited with turning around a slump in sales at Levi’s.

A 5 kilogram parcel can cost at least $2 more to send if bringing your own packaging, according to the online postage estimator.

Lobbying Australia Post

"I actually almost didn't write [the] petition, because I was thinking 'it won't make a difference', but I'm so glad I did," Flannery said. "An amazing win for the environment. Power to the people."

Australia Post has confirmed this to the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, but cannot comment further on future on this changes at this stage.

Compostable bags

The win comes as Australian startups turn their minds to addressing the environmental impacts of the global e-commerce boom.

Better Packaging Co founders Kate Bezar and Rebecca Percasky have spent the past two years building parcel bags that consumers can compost at home.

"It was just so compelling, the proposition of being able to really make change," Bezar, who also founded Dumbo Feather magazine, says.

Better Packaging Co has been working with brands like Ripcurl, L'Oreal Paris, Garnier and Maybelline on projects to start using its products, which include parcel packs made of biodegradable materials derived from corn.

The founders have invested $200,000 of personal savings in the company so far, but after their first run of 50,000 bags sold out in two weeks, Bezar says the pair knew they were on to a winner.

The bags start at 18c and go up to just over $1 per unit, making them on par with plastic packaging bought from big stationery retailers, the founders say. After less than one year selling the bags, the business is tracking to achieve $1 million turnover.

It's an idea retailers have been surprisingly hungry for, Percasky says.

"We’ve always been surprised by how fast some of the bigger brands have gotten on board."

The startup, which has been a champion of Flannery's petition, has also been in touch with Australia Post to pitch itself as a potential partner.

While the appetite to ditch plastic packaging is strong, Bezar says the process of building the startup has revealed the shortcomings of Australia's recycling sector.

"It was pretty disheartening realising how fundamentally flawed some of those processes are. Some of those sorting facilities have not been updated in decades," she says.

The company is now getting to work developing parcel packs that can go in consumer's recycling bins instead of composting.

With warehouses in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and China, global goals are on the table.

"The next plan is the UK or Germany, based on the interest we’re seeing. We can’t say no to anyone," Percasky says.

It boasts the largest Apple range in Officeworks' network, the largest print and copy centre, with massive printers for architects and designers,  and more than 1000 square metres dedicated to office furniture.

Mentone customers will be able to book a home visit from Geeks2U, the tech services business Officeworks acquired earlier this month, and order customised sports and corporate gear from the ONTHEGO kiosks. Officeworks has also taken a leaf out of Bunnings' playbook, opening its first in-store cafe and playground.

Officeworks' new managing director, Sarah Hunter, said the store was aimed at helping customers understand the breadth of Officeworks' range of products and services, which has grown almost 30 per cent over the last five years to include new categories such as art supplies, educational materials, and internet connected devices.

Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said last month he was happy with the current portfolio of assets, which is heavily weighted to retail, "but every business is for sale all the time, subject to someone coming along and offering the right price."

London | The architect of Harvey Norman's turnaround in Ireland, Blaine Callard, is set to end his decade in Dublin and return to the retailer's head office in Australia, where he may be put to work on the more lacklustre domestic operation as it grapples with the Amazon threat.

Mr Callard, who has been an outspoken advocate for traditional bricks-and-mortar retail during a period of major online disruption – Ireland is a mature Amazon market – will reportedly take on "a strategic role" in Gerry Harvey's empire.

He has worked for Harvey Norman for more than 23 years, starting as a franchisee before running projects for Mr Harvey's executive team and then putting in shifts as managing director of both the Noble House Design and Artemis Imports subsidiaries. He was dispatched to the Slovenian operations in 2006 and shifted to Ireland in 2010.

During his time as Harvey Norman's main man in Europe, he also founded and ran a furniture import business in Slovenia, set up a music production company in Ireland, and completed an MBA at Trinity College Dublin.

The Ireland business was loss-making when Mr Callard took the helm in 2010, and haemorrhaged nearly $200 million in the years that followed. It took six years to start breaking even, but the latest half-year result, released last week, suggests Mr Callard's turnaround strategy is now bearing fruit.

In the half-year to the end of 2018, pre-tax profit at the Irish and Northern Irish businesses surged by 164.4 per cent to $10.34 million, as sales revenue climbed 21.6 per cent to $208.07 million.

The business's 15 stores have gained market share, and the chain is reported to be Ireland's top-selling retailer in most of its product categories bar furniture, where Ikea's single Irish store takes the crown.

If he has any kind of magic touch, it might be needed in Australia, where headline franchisee sales revenue fell 1 per cent in the December half, and underlying profit after tax and non-controlling interests rose just 0.1 per cent. However, the company has attributed this to a more general moderation in the Australian discretionary retail market, rather than an issue particular to Harvey Norman stores.

The company's half-year profit report said the Irish turnaround has hinged on the flagship Tallaght store, on the outskirts of Dublin, which opened about 18 months ago.

Woolworths Group may need to consider closing up to a third of its Big W locations if the discount offering continues to underperform, a Macquarie Wealth Management report said.

According to the report, as first reported last week by The Australian, Woolworths Group’s review into the Big W store and distribution centre network is likely to end with up to 60 store closures, given the challenging retail environment.

A Woolworths spokesperson told IR that the review is still ongoing and that no decisions about the network have been made.

“We will update our team members and the market once the review has been completed,” the spokesperson said.

But Macquarie noted that half of Big W’s stores are in challenging centres, many of which are regional centres, and that these locations are unlikely to give the brand the sales it needs to return to profitability.

Woolworths Group announced the national review into its Big W store and distribution centre network in February, when the discount department store chain reported a loss before interest and tax of $8 million over the first half of the year, despite comparable sales growth of 5 per cent.

Woolworths said it is expecting further losses from the brand over the remainder of the year, but that it was not expected to be as severe as the FY18’s $110 million loss.

Well, that’s another Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival over. And what a week it was for this country’s biggest fashion event. The many highlights included Carla Zampatti’s spectacular Grand Showcase, featuring a performance by the incredible Dami Im; the National Graduate Showcase of last year’s top fashion design students; body activist and curvy superstar Ashley Graham hitting the catwalk to whoops of delight; and the International Women’s Day Breakfast featuring incredible women such as Camilla Franks, federal MP Julia Banks and host Nicky Briger, editor of Marie Claire. 

While it’s too early to call final numbers and ticket sales, chief executive Graeme Lewsey says the numbers are definitely up on last year, but he has more important results in mind. “We set out to enhance the consumer and stakeholder experience and provide better connectivity and value through the experience, and I know that we did that because the feedback has told us so,” Lewsey tells Buzz, citing enhanced production values, more musicians participating and the increase in food and beverage options.

Also notable was the level of diversity on the catwalk. “We have changed runways forever,” Lewsey boldly declares. VAMFF has long been a champion of inclusion, but this year its rollcall covered an even greater variety of ages, sizes and ethnicities. “We made a phenomenal effort to not just make the change but also in a non-tokenistic way. We didn’t preach about it. We left that to other people like Ashley Grahamor Hanan (Ibrahim), our Muslim model.

“We had transgender models, multiple nationalities, all done to inspire and represent our community better. While there is still a long way to go … it was a significant step up. And we have been supported by the industry at large, from model agents to designers. It was not just the festival, but the festival had a moment in time and we can never go back from it.”

Buzz was most involved as host of the Australian Fashion Summit, a day-long business seminar that brought together industry leaders from around the country and the world. There were fantastic takeaways from all of the speakers, and Graham brought another rock star moment to the event with her inspiring body positivity affirmations for women and men. Spell and the Gypsy Collective co-founder Elizabeth Abegg explained how they avoided the usual frenzied warehouse sale situation by making it a ticketed and timed event. No more elbows and catfights, rather a relaxed and enjoyable retail experience; there was not a brand present that wasn’t making a note about doing that in the future. And, given it was IWD the same day, Heidi Middleton (ex-Sass & Bide, now Artclub) and Pip Edwards (ex-Tsubi, now PE Nation) inspired a horde of women, working mothers and business owners with their no-brainer approach to flexible working hours, to “remove guilt” from the workplace and boost productivity and satisfaction.

In international news, Calvin Klein last week announced a halt to its runway collections. Buzz readers will hardly be surprised at the news; the company axed Belgian designer Raf Simons in December, just over two years into his three-year contract. As chief creative officer, Simons had full creative control of all aspects of the brand, from fashion to underwear and marketing. He renamed the collection line Calvin Klein 205W39NYC, for its headquarters in New York, and produced just four cutting-edge and conceptual runway collections. When the numbers didn’t add up for shareholders, executives started rethinking the company’s strategy and suggested the focus would move to its cash cow lines of underwear, denim and perfume. The question now is, how will the removal of the “halo” collection, which provides a trickle-down effect from the aspirational to the everyday, affect the company’s future?

It says the current regulatory environment has "manifestly failed to deter systemic poor conduct and exploitative behaviour and has entrenched the power imbalance".

The report draws parallels between the franchising sector and the behaviour uncovered in the banking royal commission.

"The extent of poor corporate governance in some areas of franchising is comparable to that in the financial services sector," it said. "There are deeply rooted cultural problems that will not be resolved by a franchisor replacing a few senior executives."

The report calls on the government to establish a franchising taskforce to examine and implement its recommendations, made up of representatives from Treasury and the Department of Jobs and Small Business.

Labor is backing the establishment of the taskforce and will act on its recommendations.

Shadow small business minister assisting, Madeline King, said workers were being mistreated and franchisors were not being upfront.

"This taskforce will be integral to ensuring that workers in franchises will not be ripped off in the future," she said.

Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash said the government would carefully analyse the report and consider what improvements needed to be made before proceeding.

"The government is committed to supporting effective and fair reforms to the franchising sector without imposing unnecessary regulation on the sector," she said.

Suite of changes

The report recommends a suite of changes to the franchising code, including the inclusion of civil pecuniary penalties and giving the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) more responsibilities and greater enforcement powers to "root out misconduct and exploitative behaviour" in the franchise sector.

The report wants improvements to disclosure and transparency, including the provision of all financial information when franchises are sold or transferred including Business Activity Statements and greater clarity and accountability around marketing funds.

The report recommends the taskforce examine making unfair contract terms in franchise agreements illegal, investigate options for a public franchise register with franchisors providing updated disclosure documents, and template franchise agreements annually.

It recommends civil penalties if franchisors fail to comply.

The report calls for the ACCC, the Australian Taxation Office and the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, to launch investigations into embattled Retail Food Group, its current and former directors and officers for potential insider trading, tax evasion, quality of audit, directors' duties and continuous disclosure.

A spokesperson for Retail Food Group said the franchisor "supports any changes which will be of benefit to the franchising industry".

Workers reveal the systemic wage abuse they suffered at 7-Eleven stores around the country.

Evidence to the inquiry revealed “a substantial amount” of intimidatory behaviour and misconduct by franchisors, leading the inquiry to call for whistleblower protections.

The report said the inquiry took a "holistic approach" to address the systemic problems in the sector and recommended the government "avoid cherry picking, and instead implement all the recommendations in [the] report as soon as possible".

Time to act

Senator John Williams, who was crucial in calling for the inquiry into franchising, said none of the 17 inquiries into the sector over the past 30 years had worked.

"The work has now been done. It is time for the government to act," he said.

Senator Williams said he was aware the industry had serious problems but was shocked at what the inquiry uncovered.

"It was worse than expected. It was like the royal commission into banking," he said.

Former ACCC head Allan Fels said the franchising code had been "somewhat disappointing" and needed strengthening to be effective.

"The problems with the code have been longstanding and systemic and, accordingly, strong medicine is required and this report goes a considerable distance in that direction," he said.

The efficacy of the Franchise Council of Australia was questioned in the report, which said the body "does not appear to provide a balanced representation of franchisor and franchisee views". However, FCA chief executive Mary Aldred said the industry body welcomed the inquiry's findings.

"Traditionally we could have done more to incorporate the input of the views of franchisees, I am very alive to that," she said.

The parliamentary inquiry was triggered by a series of media investigations by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald into 7-Eleven, Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Caltex and Retail Food Group where franchisees described franchising as "indentured servitude" or slavery.

It was worse than expected. It was like the royal commission into banking.

Senator John Williams

The series exposed crushing business models that pushed franchisees to the wall, leading to a range of issues including financial ruin and marriage breakdowns. To make ends meet, some franchisees engaged in wage fraud.

Budgets for experiential marketing rose 19 consecutive quarters to Q2 2018, and in the Q4 2018 IPA Bellwether report, it was only events that saw any rise in investment at all. This shows that brands are realising the potential of experiential to engage audiences in more meaningful and relevant ways.

So, what are the trends set to shape experiential marketing? You can read much more on the topic in Econsultancy’s Experimental Marketing Best Practise Guide, or continue below for a summary.

Experiential marketing has become common practice for large-scale technology brands like Netflix and Google; the latter holding hundreds of events in Europe alone each year.

Without a physical presence, experiential enables these brands to create real-life connections with consumers through engaging and memorable in-person experiences. Indeed, their success appears to have inspired other (and smaller) digital brands to invest in the medium. And we are seeing a wide range of industries getting involved, from consumer brands like Sephora to B2B giants like GE.

Alongside this, we are also seeing the growing recognition of skills and expertise. There has been an emergence of a new raft of job titles that are specific to experiential, as well as an increase in companies placing greater value on them.

According to Major Players, 35% of people working in experiential received a pay rise of between 5% and 10% in 2017.

While many experiential events remain free for consumers, a growing number of brands are moving into paid-for ticketed events. Figures from Event Marketer’s EventTrack 2018 show that one third of consumers have paid an admission fee to attend a brand experience or event.

One of the main reasons for this is to allow brands with limited marketing budgets to carry out effective experiential experiences. It also creates more credibility for an event, as well as helps brands to plan around a definite number of attendees (and reduce drop-outs).

Spotify is a great example of a brand that has seen great success with ticketed events. It has previously created a series of live concerts based on its WhoWeBe playlist, featuring grime, rap and hip-hop stars like Giggs and Dizzee Rascal. With young fans keen to attend, the event (for 10,000 people) sold out three weeks in advance, with tickets selling at £35 each.

Another growing form of experiential marketing is ‘stayable’ experiences, whereby consumers are able to stay over in comfortable spaces like hotels and boutiques.

Stayable experiences are a natural fit for brands within the travel and hospitality industries. But unlike regular stays, these types of branded experiences are far more immersive, and in turn, more memorable. This is also in comparison to daytime experiences; the idea being that it’s far easier to forget a two-hour event than it is an entire day and night in a new or novel location.

So far, this area of experiential has been largely untapped, apart from a few high-profile examples. W Hotels is one brand that has invested in it, creating a luxury yurt experience for its loyalty programme members at Coachella festival. Each yurt was designed to resemble the brand’s properties in Barcelona, Bali and Hollywood, and offered guests luxuries such as a maid turndown service, personal concierge, and shuttle service. This gave consumers the chance to experience W Hotels’ core product offering, albeit in a heightened and unique environment.

As well as creating a memorable experience for its audience, the yurts also generated social noise for W Hotels, with consumers ready and willing to document and share their experience on Instagram and other social channels.

From Coca-Cola to Topshop, we’ve already seen VR and AR being deployed by brands within experiential. Other forms of technology are also coming to the forefront, too, and in various stages of the planning and execution of campaigns.

One example of this is the use of technology to create multi-sensory environments, whereby brands can capitalise on smell, sound, and touch to heighten experiences. Whiskey brand Diageo has experimented with playing the crackling sound of an open fire at the bar, for instance. Similarly, a pop-up for home fragrance brand Glade involved different rooms inspired by a particular Glade candle scent – each one designed to evoke an emotional response.

Elsewhere, it’s been suggested that 2019 could be the year that we see robotics incorporated into experiential, offering companies an innovative way of engaging with consumers (such as robots serving food and drink). Similarly, experiential agencies are at the early stages of experimenting with finger vein recognition – a biometric technique that can analyse people’s finger vein patterns in order to identify them.

Finally, mixed reality has been named as a technology to watch. This is essentially a hybrid of AR and VR, which anchors virtual objects to the real world, and maps them to the physical environment to allow users to then interact with the virtual objects.

As we make headway into 2019, and the the experiential marketing sector continues to grow, brands and agencies will need to continue to innovate in order to stand out in this increasingly crowded space.

The cost of the technology has fallen dramatically in the past few years — tags that once cost $US3 are now less than 20¢ — prompting Australian retailers grappling with the arrival of global RFID-enabled competitors and the shift to online retailing to revisit opportunities.

Myer started testing RFID tags in September 2017, applying the thumbnail-sized tags to technology products sold in its flagship Bourke Street store in Melbourne.

Christine Holman has been appointed as an independent director; she is also a director of WiseTech and is on the board of building products group CSR. CSR

Ms Holman was a chief financial officer and commercial director at Telstra Broadcast Services earlier in her career.

Blackmores chairman Brent Wallace said on Monday that Ms Holman had two decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions, finance, technology and digital transformation.

IKEA's Australia country manager, Jan Gardberg, has called on the government to be "much more active" in supporting electric vehicles so it can deliver all of its home furnishings, which will soon include solar panels, in electric trucks by 2025.

"There are no incentives for anyone switching over to electric vehicles," Mr Gardberg, who is Finnish, told The Australian Financial Review. "Look at countries like Norway and Sweden and Germany where it has been a collaboration very much with government and industry and the communities to paint out the direction."

It was not "super impressive" that Australia had less than 5000 private electric cars on its roads for a population of 25 million, Mr Gardberg said. "It's inevitable that, in the end, it's going to go electrical and it's just a question about who would like to be there in the beginning and help that process."

IKEA will only sign new delivery contracts with transport companies that are introducing electric vehicles so it can meet its goal of having Billy bookcases, Ektorp sofas and other home furnishings globally delivered in electric trucks by 2025.

It also wants to start selling solar panels for homes in its local stores by the end of the year, and will also offer financing and services to install them, Mr Gardberg said. "You don't need to take an Allen key and put everything together yourself."

IKEA would ideally like all goods in Australia to be delivered on electric trucks today but there are not enough electric vehicles available, Mr Gardberg said.

IKEA does not own delivery trucks and hires transport groups, like ANC and Kings, to deliver its goods.

Reducing carbon emissions

About 100 vehicles deliver large IKEA furniture to homes around Australia every day while smaller home furnishings are delivered by another 250 vehicles every day. There are already seven electric vehicles delivering IKEA goods in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne and it hopes the numbers will gradually increase.

Mr Gardberg said shifting to electric vehicles made good business sense because it would lower IKEA's transport costs as well as its carbon emissions as the world became more urbanised.

"We like to work with a five to 10 year business horizon ... we can see the return on the investment," he said.

Switching to just one electric truck is estimated to save 36.3 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. All IKEA goods in Shanghai are delivered in electric vehicles.

Research firm IBISWorld on Tuesday revealed Australia’s top 1000 companies in 2018, with Wesfarmers and Woolworths placing within the top five.

The list provides an overview of Australia’s corporate landscape, and highlights the largest firms, growing and declining sectors and new businesses to watch in the coming years.

According to the report, over 75 per cent of the companies on the list lifted their revenue over the course of the year, with total revenue across the list having increased 1.5 per cent year on year, while over 70 per cent of businesses remained profitable.

However, after enjoying the top position in 2017, IBISWorld senior industry analyst James Thompson expects Wesfarmers to drop from second position in the list next year due to its demerger from supermarket Coles.

There were a number of new entrants, including online retailer Kogan, which joined the list at number 910 after generating significant revenue due to its expanded service offering and the growth of Kogan Mobile. The online retailer enjoyed annual revenue growth of 10.6 per cent, totalling $231.8 million, over the 2018-19 financial year.

Noni B, which entered the list at number 997, did so off the back of the successful integration of the brands it acquired from Specialty Fashion Group, which delivered revenue growth of 17.8 per cent for the year.

Other notable retailers on the list include:

• Metcash: 26
• Aldi: 49
• JB Hi-Fi: 56
• 7-Eleven: 84
• Harvey Norman: 123
• Cotton On: 157
• Myer: 158
• Super Retail Group: 160
• David Jones: 175
• Costco: 244
• Ikea Australia: 323
• Luxottica: 480
• The Reject Shop: 527
• Accent Group: 612
• Michael Hill: 710
• Nike: 772
• Amazon: 968
• Retail Food Group: 995

Guy Russo, the former head of Wesfarmers’ department store division and long-standing board member of Guzman y Gomez (GYG), was appointed chairman of the board, the Mexican food retailer said on Wednesday.

Steven Marks, the founder and global CEO of GYG called Russo one of the most “dynamic and successful retail executives in Australia, if not the world” and said he is “one of the most astute board members I’ve seen”.

“As chairman, he will have high expectations of both board and management to deliver across all aspects of governance and the business,” Marks said.

In addition to his retail experience at Wesfarmers, Russo was previously president at McDonald’s Greater China and managing director and CEO at McDonald’s Australia.

He joined the GYG board in 2014 and has been part of the rapid expansion of the business over the last four years. He played a role in the launch of a breakfast menu and healthy meal options for kids and in securing a $44 million investment from TDM Growth Partners to accelerate domestic and international growth.

“Under the leadership of Steven and Robert, GYG has been on a remarkable journey since its first restaurant opened in Newtown in 2006. I’ve been fortunate to have been involved for much of this time and anticipate an exciting future as we pursue a mission to reinvent fast food,” Russo said.

“We’ll be seeing more of the exciting food and culture that GYG has become renowned for along with some category-defining work in menu and restaurant innovations over the next 12 months. I can’t wait to be involved with the whole team, from robust leadership to our energetic crew in store, as we can take GYG to the next level.”

GYG has already opened two restaurants in 2019 and has a further 15 new restaurants planned for 2019 across Australia.

Spell & The Gypsy Collective has allocated its first ever sustainability budget this year.

Speaking at the Legacy Summit in Sydney this morning, co-founder Elizabeth Abegg discussed the brand's growing investment in greener practices.

The brand, which has a range of ethical and environmental targets leading up to 2025, commenced its journey in April 2016.

"From our factories to our manufacturing methods to our everyday footprint here in Byron Bay, our vision is to continue to create beautiful garments that also inspire change towards truly sustainable fashion."

Abegg said a direct-to-consumer model allows the brand to draw 80% of sales from its own website and channels, allowing "wiggle room" in financing sustainability.

"We don't have shareholders or investors and it allows us to be accountable to ourselves."

She said investment in consultants, fabrics and certified suppliers were the biggest costs to greener initiatives. A shortage in some ecologically friendly fabrications is also a challenge.

"Only 2% of the world's factories are accredited so things don't always happen as fast with new suppliers," she added. "We're lucky in that we design a year out, so we design in June and it goes out the following June, so we can absorb the pace."

The brand has already made in-roads to achieving its targets. Its latest impact report revealed 86% of Tier One factories have been ethically accredited, with 36% achieving environmental certification.

Spell & The Gypsy Collective has seven pillars in its 2025 sustainability strategy, ranging from sourcing to production to community values.

The Australian senate just passed a bill to effectively ban cosmetic testing on animals in Australia in a move that has been described as a ‘huge win’ for animals, consumers and science.

Forget about dining and entertainment precincts at shopping centres — Australian consumers really want more carparking, and cheaper parking to boot.

A survey of shoppers in the Asia Pacific by investment bank UBS found that while customers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and China want a greater choice of retailers and more services, Australian shoppers’ first priority is parking.

“Every Australian landlord is investing in entertainment and dining precincts, this data is saying there is less of a focus on this than landlords think,” said UBS analyst James Druce.

The survey of more than 14,000 shoppers is sobering reading for Australia’s mall owners, many of which are major listed companies like Westfield owner Scentre Group or Vicinity Centres, part owner of Melbourne’s mega Chadstone mall.

The downside for landlords is that parking which doesn’t generate much in the way of returns.

Visits to Australian malls dropped 15 per cent for the shoppers surveyed late last year compared with 2017, the biggest fall for countries in the survey.

This contrasts with trends in much of Asia where visits to shopping centres rose. Taiwan saw the most growth with a 22 per cent increase in a year followed by Vietnam with a 20 per cent rise. In the middle of the field was Japan, with a 2 per cent rise, while New Zealand also suffered with an 11 per cent fall in shopper visits.

UBS also pointed to the “plethora of retail assets on the market” in Australia weighing on values and the threat of online shopping including Amazon. Analyst Grant McCasker said “the listed market is pricing some pretty big asset price declines” given some of the discounts to net asset values that mall owners’ shares were trading at.

Nor would the rash of shopping centres on the market be cleared this year, he said.

UBS rated some of Australia’s listed shopping centre groups as the “least preferred” mall stocks in the region, particularly Vicinity and Stockland, despite the discounted share price.

The most preferred shopping centre stocks were listed in Singapore, Vietnam and Japan.

The analysts also looked at the effect of online shopping finding that while awareness was high in Australia at 93 per cent, only 22 per cent of those surveyed had bought and 40 per cent planned to buy from the online giant.

“Amazon’s entry into a market generally drives an acceleration in the rate of online penetration,” the research note said.

Amazon’s online penetration more than doubled in the 11 markets operates in over five years, UBS noted.

Meanwhile in Australia, the popularity of Uber Eats and other food delivery service were limiting the demand for dining options in shopping centres.

The survey found that more 40 per cent of shoppers in Hong Kong, Singapore and China would like to see more food and restaurants in malls, but in Australia, that figure fell to 24 per cent.

Australia Post and Qantas have struck a $1.4 billion deal that will see the airline introduce three new Airbus freighters to its network to help meet Australia's surging demand for online shopping.

The new seven-year agreement continues the two companies' former $500 million freighting deal, which was first signed in 2010 and renewed in 2015.

Under the agreement, Australia Post will continue to have access to Qantas' dedicated freighter airline network, along with priority access to belly space on 1500 passenger flights.

Qantas will also invest in three new Airbus A321P2F aircraft, former passenger jets which have been converted into cargo jets, which boast a holding capacity of 208 cubic metres and can ship nearly 28 tonnes.

Compared to the airlines' existing Boeing 737 cargo planes, each of these new aircraft will have an increased capacity of nine tonnes and are due to enter the fleet in October next year.

Qantas will be the first in the world to operate the popular A321 as a cargo plane, with chief executive Alan Joyce saying the expansion was essential to keep up with Australia's love for online shopping.

"Consumer preferences and expectations are rapidly changing and together with Australia Post we’re responding by growing our dedicated freighter fleet to provide a better experience for consumers and businesses," Mr Joyce said in a statement.

Figures from NAB show online shopping is continuing to grow locally, making up over nine per cent of total retail spend in the 2019 financial year, or about $29.3 billion.

Australia Post's own figures echo this growth, with chief executive Christine Holgate telling The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ecommerce was "booming" locally.

"[Ecommerce] grew by 24 per cent in Australia last year and we see if growing faster and stronger this year," she said.

"For Australia Post, this is really really important."

Ms Holgate said the boost in network capacity would help the service keep on top of demand during busy periods, with the government-owned company flying more than 400 tonnes of mail on its busiest night in 2018 and shipping more than 40 million parcels around Christmas.

Domestic cargo traffic has increased significantly over the past three years, growing 31 per cent since the end of 2015 with 474,000 tonnes shipped in the 2018 calendar year.

In expanding its deal with Australia Post, Qantas has continued its fight with competing airline Virgin for a hold on the Australian freighting market.

After the company snatched Virgin's contract with shipping business Toll in 2015, Virgin hit back a year later, winning a $US575 million contract from global freight company TNT which Qantas previously held.

Australia Post's contract remains by far the most lucrative, however, with the national postal service facilitating 82 per cent of the country's e-commerce and delivering some three billion items a year.

Mr Joyce told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald the reforging of a partnership between the two logistics powerhouses was "pretty big".

"It’s not every day that you sign a $1 billion-plus contract, with the ability for [it] to be a lot bigger," he said.

"It’s not every day you sign up your largest freight customer by miles."

Qantas booked revenue of $17 billion for the 2018 financial year, $862 million of which was freight revenue, up seven per cent on the year prior.

The company is set to report its full-year results on August 22, with analysts predicting a near $1 billion increase in revenue but a slide in earnings after taking a profit hit thanks to an increase in fuel prices. Australia Post and Qantas have had a longstanding partnership, dating back almost 100 years, which included joint ventures in ground and air logistics businesses StarTrack and Australian airExpress.

In 2012, the companies performed a swap of sorts, with Qantas acquiring full ownership of airExpress in exchange for Australia Post taking ownership of StarTrack.

Amazon is determined to boost profits at its core e-commerce business, even if that means disrupting relationships with long-time suppliers. Robert Bumsted

"If you're heavily reliant on Amazon, which a lot of these vendors are, you're in a lot of trouble," said Dan Brownsher, Chief Executive Officer of Channel Key, a Las Vegas e-commerce consulting business with more than 50 clients that sell more than $US100 million $142 million) of goods on Amazon annually. "If this goes on, it can put people out of business."

Mr Brownsher is among several consultants who said Amazon's move had affected thousands of vendors.

Since leaving David Jones and Country Road Group, where he was chief customer officer, in 2018, Mr Williams has been chief operating officer for Alceon Capital'sretail operations, which include womenswear retailer Noni B, online retailers Surfstitch and EziBuy and discount variety chain Cheap as Chips.

Home and office supplies business Officeworks expanded the scope of its services offer with the acquisition of technology solutions business Geeks2U last week.

The brand will continue to operate independently for the foreseeable future, though will be integrated into Officeworks’ store network and website over time, creating a “one stop shop” for the technology needs of Officeworks customers.

Geeks2U enables customers to book an independent IT technician to come to their home or business to solve issues with computers, tablets, phones, televisions, internet, email, data backup and recovery and other tech problems.

The acquisition, announced on Friday, March 1, complements Officeworks’ existing IT service offering, which enables businesses to pay a monthly fee to have technicians offer remote support, software, cloud storage and installation of new technology.

“If customers have a tech problem, they can call Geeks2U or request a call-back,” Officeworks managing director Sarah Hunter told IR.

“Someone from Geeks2U will discuss their needs and provide a quote, before booking in a specific appointment time and organising an expert technician.”

According to Hunter, the service covers everything from setting up a wireless home network, installing hardware or software, to repairing operating systems.

The computer repair service , which will continue to be headed up by founders David and Michael Hancock, was launched in 2005 in Sydney before expanding nationwide – serving over 300,000 customers.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Officeworks, who will be able to provide the support and scale of a successful national business that’s been around for 25 years,” David Hancock said.

KPMG nation leader of consumer and retail Trent Duvall told IR that technology remains a ‘dark art’ for many consumers, and that through understanding this Officeworks could offer solutions which may lead to increased sales down the line.

“By removing the confusion many shoppers face due to the myriad tech solutions on offer, and simplifying a consumers understanding of what tech they need and why, it is very likely that they will buy more and be a return shopper,” Duvall said.

“Moving into a known model like Geeks2U would seem a smart retail strategy to drive Officeworks sales of home technology products and solutions.”