Project focuses on retailing

The country's retail industry will be the focus of a comprehensive survey, the first project planned by the Massey Business School centre for retail research.

The new centre is headed by Associate Professor Jonathan Elms, who said the centre represented the next logical step for the university after the successful launch of the country's only retail-focused degree at the start of the year.

Called the new Centre for Advanced Retail Studies (CARS), it brings together a broad range of Massey academics who currently research various aspects of the retail sector to encourage collaboration.

Dr Elms said the centre planned to create a broader view of what retail is.

"It's not just retail management. It's consumer behaviour and culture, logistics, supply chain management, marketing," he said. "We are already collaborating with industry, retail trade associations and tertiary institutions overseas so we can really position Massey as one of the world leaders for retail sector research."

Dr Elms said their first major research project is the "Big Issues in Retail Survey" and he was keen for as many New Zealand retailers as possible to participate. Massey has partnered with Retail New Zealand and Monash University in Melbourne on the survey, which closes on January 15.

"This research project will really take the pulse of the NZ retail industry and will be the most comprehensive review of the sector undertaken for many years.

"We want to understand the practicalities of operating in the current retail environment, including marketing spend and metrics, HR issues, supply chain collaboration and buying practices, changing consumer behaviour and service demands.

"We also want to identify future trends and challenges, including the impact of technology and the internet, sustainability and the impact of internationalisation on the sector. The findings will inform our future research projects and teaching programmes, as well as provide valuable insights to retailers," he said.

Monash University has had a strong retail research programme for more than 30 years and will assist with the analysis and also provide some comparisons with the data it has collected from Australian retailers. Dr Elms said the survey will be conducted annually to allow for year-on-year comparisons. The initial findings will be presented at Retail NZ's shop.kiwi forum in Auckland on February 16.

-To complete the survey go to: http://tinyurl.com/BigIssuesRetail.