&nbsp;

A local Australian has spent a Lower North Shore record $15.1 million at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/elevate-hume-place-crows-nest-25-hume-street-crows-nest-nsw-2065">Elevate Hume Place</a>, the new TOD above the recently opened Crows Nest Metro Station.

The buyer amalgamated a penthouse and sub-penthouse to create the triplex apartment that will have five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a private rooftop pool, expansive terrace, and panoramic views of Sydney Harbour and skyline. The building is being created by burgeoning developer Third.i, alongside joint venture partner Phoenix Property Investors.

The buyer was drawn to Elevate’s unrivalled connectivity, situated directly above the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/crows-nest-nsw-2065">Crows Nest</a> Metro Station, and the vibrant lifestyle precinct that surrounds it. The Metro connects to the CBD in just seven minutes, and Chatswood in four.

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Designed by internationally acclaimed architects <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/woods-bagot">Woods Bagot</a>, Elevate draws inspiration from the ancient blue gum forests native to the area. The building is a Net Zero development, created in consultation with Indigenous communities and exceeding sustainability benchmarks. Interiors feature chevron-engineered timber flooring, natural stone benchtops, and premium Sub-Zero Wolf appliances, delivering timeless elegance and next-level comfort.

The exchange of the $15.1 million apartment, follows a recent $5 million sale, and over $30 million currently in expressions of interests. Interest in Elevate’s penthouse stock has surged, reflecting a strong appetite for ultra-luxury residences that combine design excellence with unmatched connectivity.

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“We’re seeing a significant uptick in interest from local and international buyers who are prioritising connectivity, sustainability, and lifestyle,” said Callum Billinghurst, Head of Sales at Third.i Group.&nbsp;

“These recent sales are a testament to the vision behind Elevate. It’s not just about luxury finishes or panoramic views, it’s about creating homes that are deeply connected to the city and the community. Buyers are responding to that. They want to live somewhere that offers more than just a postcode, they want culture, convenience, and long-term value. Elevate delivers all of that, and more.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=142550 project_image_fid=297878]

As part of the Hume Place precinct, Elevate is transforming Crows Nest into Sydney’s most dynamic urban village. Elevate’s unique position directly above the metro, combined with its curated amenity offering, has made it a magnet for buyers seeking a future-proof investment and a vibrant urban lifestyle.

The next release at Elevate is expected later this year.

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“We’re seeing a significant uptick in interest from local and international buyers who are prioritising connectivity, sustainability, and lifestyle,” said Callum Billinghurst, Head of Sales at Third.i Group


Joel Robinson

Third.i & PPI set Lower North Shore apartment record with $15.1m sale at Elevate Hume Place penthouse amalgamation

Sydney developer Deicorp is set to officially open its <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/hills-showground-village-castle-hill-2-mandala-parade-castle-hill-nsw-2154">Showground Village</a> precinct in Castle Hill.

NSW Premier Chris Minns will attend the opening on Sunday August 31, alongside&nbsp;Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully, The Hills Shire Council Mayor Dr Michelle Byrne, Landcom CEO Alex Wendler, and Deicorp Founder Fouad Deiri.

Located just moments from Hills Showground Metro Station, the centre spans 9,500 sqm across four levels and features 26 specialty retailers as well as a 1,400 sqm public plaza, creating a new community meeting point for shopping, dining, fitness, and everyday convenience.&nbsp;

Showground Village forms part of the Hills Showground Station Precinct, an urban renewal initiative led by Landcom and Sydney Metro that will provide for around 2,300 new jobs over the next 20 years and around 9,000 new homes.&nbsp;

Deicorp was recently approved for another new development next door to Showground Village.

The new five residential buildings in the East Showgrounds Precinct, will see another 873 dwellings delivered, as well as&nbsp;3,500 sqm of open public space in the form of landscaped courtyards, a public park and communal outdoor recreational space including a playground, barbeque area, and outdoor seating.

“This approval will allow us to start construction on a range of beautifully designed, conveniently located apartments and create another vibrant, walkable and well-connected community,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/deicorp" target="">Deicorp</a>&nbsp;Founder Fouad Deiri.

“These new homes will provide their residents with a seamless connection to jobs and services along Metro North West, and the new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/hills-showground-village-castle-hill-2-mandala-parade-castle-hill" target="">Hills Showground Village</a>&nbsp;retail precinct currently under construction."

Deicorp has several thousand apartments in planning and under construction across Sydney, from Zetland and Five Dock to Crows Nest and Macquarie Park.

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Deicorp, NSW Premier officially open Showground Village, new retail and hospitality hub in Castle Hill

ASX-listed developer Cedar Woods is progressing its plans for its Southbank arts precinct site.&nbsp;

The developer has filed plans, which are now with the&nbsp;Department of Transport and Planning, for a new 20-level tower at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/141-151-sturt-street-southbank-vic-3006">141–151 Sturt Street</a>, a 2,718 sqm block opposite the Habitat Filter sculpture.

The proposal seeks to demolish the two-level&nbsp;commercial building, including a small supermarket and medical tenancies, and create a new building with 180 apartments and a focus on an&nbsp;active public realm and arts integration.

&nbsp;

<img alt="Southbank site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="76a72db6-91ef-43ae-827d-a9cfa72893d2" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Site.png?VersionId=DZgtB4K6BswVh0QtCs3iLjXaLp0CbcEb" />

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There will be a full mix of apartment configurations, including 28 studio apartments, 16 one-bedroom, 104 two-bedroom, and 32 three-bedroom units.

Retail, creative arts, and residential amenity functions are integrated across the lower levels. A food and drink tenancy is planned to front Dodds Street, while a retail tenancy fronting Sturt Street will be accessed via an elevated walkway. The first floor includes a substantial 734 sqm creative arts space, envisioned to support Melbourne’s growing cultural and digital industries.

Architecture firm <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a> has put together the plans. In their&nbsp;Urban Design Report they highlighted the project’s ambition to embed itself within Southbank’s evolving cultural fabric.

A central feature of the design is a through-block link connecting Sturt and Dodds Streets, landscaped with native plantings and embedded with universal access ramps.

“The ramp has been thoughtfully integrated as the primary access point, ensuring universal accessibility for all users,” the report noted, with the link offering “a direct response to the urban planning scheme of creating more green spaces within our communities”.

<img alt="Southbank podium" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4d24b1b2-d69c-4a11-a11d-ec6df432221c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/podium.png?VersionId=geWoJyZDmPSLODZ_.PNJ0LvpOmyyCdpo" />

The building’s podium form responds to the mandatory height limits along Dodds Street and maintains a fine-grain interface to adjoining developments. Above the podium, the tower is articulated with recessed balconies and a focus on views toward the CBD and surrounding arts institutions. A communal rooftop recreation deck and indoor lounge are positioned on level four, adjoining seven apartments and providing over 900 sqm of resident amenity space.

Vehicle access and loading will be provided via Dodds Street, with 155 resident car spaces located across two basement levels and the first three above-ground floors. Bicycle storage is more generous, with 226 spaces distributed across resident, staff and visitor needs.

Rothelowman describes the architecture as “humanist,” with ground-level interfaces designed to encourage social interaction and provide a dignified entry for both residents and passers-by. “All street interfaces are crafted to invite and nurture human connections,” the design report states. “The façade transitions to a human scale, providing an approachable and engaging streetscape”.

Cedar Woods, while well-known for its large communities it develops outside of Australia's capital cities, they have recently developed in Melbourne's inner-ring before. They are approaching completion at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-townhouses/88-leveson-north-melbourne-88-leveson-street-north-melbourne-vic-3051">88 Leveson</a>, just 15 townhouses in the heart of North Melbourne.

Cedar Woods progresses with new apartment plans in Southbank arts precinct

Brisbane developers Core Property Partners and Vector Property Australia has teamed up for Brisbane's newest apartment development.

The duo identified <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/east-brisbane-qld-4169">East Brisbane</a> as their preferred suburb, on the fringe of the Gabba Precinct, where they've just revealed BANKSII, 72 apartments opposite Raymond Park.

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The one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments will sit in a glass-wrapped building that will also feature a rooftop with an&nbsp;infinity-edge pool, a BBQ area and alfresco dining spaces, sun lounges, and a sauna, as well as a resident-only gym and a ground-floor cafe.

Rhett Williams, Director of Vector Property Australia, said the project will lift the quality of the East Brisbane community and set a new benchmark.

"In Brisbane’s current property landscape, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/banksii-east-brisbane-169-wellington-road-east-brisbane-qld-4169">BANKSII</a> stands out through its emphasis on lifestyle-oriented living, connectivity and sophisticated design," Williams says.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=136432 project_image_fid=5479]

The 10-level building has been designed by MAS Architecture. Their designs were inspired by the native Banksia flower, with the architecture and interiors reflecting the organic symmetry of its namesake flora. MAS has interpreted this throughout the building’s curved form, façade detailing and interior palette.&nbsp;

The building’s flowing geometry and natural tones are complemented by large balconies and floor-to-ceiling glazing, maximising cross-breezes, daylight and views over the city, parklands and river.

“Having a strong narrative for a building helps us architecturally,” MAS noted. "We can choose colours that come off that species of flowers. The trunk and the trees and the flower elements all are now visible in our joinery on the inside and in our architectural finishes on the outside."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=136432 project_image_fid=5485]

Apartments will feature timber floors, soft porcelain tiles, brushed bronze fittings, and stone benchtops with warm veining.&nbsp;

Kitchens feature premium SMEG appliances and generous storage, while bathrooms have been designed as calming retreats with curved cabinetry and twin sinks in the master ensuites.

The building will feature a suite of rooftop and wellness amenities. Residents will have access to an infinity-edge pool, BBQ and alfresco dining areas, sun lounges and a rooftop sauna.&nbsp;

A residents-only gym will be located on the podium level, while a ground-floor café and landscaped laneway will further activate the site and improve neighbourhood connectivity.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=136432 project_image_fid=5488]

BANKSII will rise from a prime Wellington Road site, with the building oriented to overlook the adjacent Raymond Park and take in extensive city views. It is also on the doorstep of key&nbsp;lifestyle infrastructure, including the future Kangaroo Point Green Bridge, The Gabba stadium, and the planned Brisbane Live arena.&nbsp;

Public transport options, including ferry, bus and rail - including the future Cross River Rail Woolloongabba station - are all nearby, supporting a car-optional lifestyle just minutes from the CBD.

Williams said the team spent over a year searching for the ideal site before securing this location.

"We were attracted to <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/east-brisbane-qld-4169">East Brisbane</a> as it is a vibrant and growing community that offers a perfect balance of urban convenience and natural beauty with the parklands and river on our doorstep.”

The project is part of the broader Woolloongabba Games precinct, which is undergoing significant investment in the lead-up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. This urban renewal, coupled with infrastructure upgrades, is expected to enhance long-term liveability and capital growth in the area.

Given the wide max of configurations, BANKSII is expected to suit everyone from first home buyers and investors to families and downsizers.

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BANKSII sales launch in booming East Brisbane apartment market

The Minns Labor Government will deliver Sydney’s first new heavy rail station in more than a decade – enabling up to 10,000 new homes by rezoning land around Woollahra and Edgecliff stations, right next to the CBD, to tackle the housing crisis and rebalance growth across the city.

Recent reports by the NSW Productivity Commission have warned that Sydney is losing twice as many young people as it is gaining, while also finding that Woollahra is the most feasible Local Government Area (LGA) in New South Wales to build new housing.

Despite this, housing approvals in Woollahra consistently lag well behind other LGAs, and the population has declined by 11 per cent over the past 50 years while Greater Sydney as a whole has grown by 74 per cent.

The new station that will be an eight-minute trip from Sydney CBD, will be located on the Eastern Suburbs train line in Woollahra, where a station build was started in the 1970s but never completed.

To enable the delivery of new homes the NSW Government will lead a rezoning of Woollahra and Edgecliff stations similar to other state led rezonings to allow additional homes to be built around the stations.

Affordable housing will also make up a proportion of development on the site with the final amount of affordable housing required, to be determined as part of the rezoning process.

The area surrounding the new station is within walking distance of major green and recreational space including Cooper, Trumper, Rushcutters Bay and Centennial Parks.

The Eastern Suburbs train line between Bondi Junction and Sydney CBD also has the lowest passenger usage rates during the AM peak of any line on the Sydney network, with only 43 per cent of operating capacity during the AM peak currently being utilised by passengers.

Sydney Water and Infrastructure NSW have confirmed there is capacity in the water and wastewater systems to accommodate the proposed 10,000 dwellings without major upgrades.

The rezoning is expected to take around two years and will further support the Government’s housing targets that rebalance the delivery of new homes around existing infrastructure.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Next stop Woollahra train station - delivering up to 10,000 new homes in the heart of Sydney

Amazon

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Stockland has partnered with Amazon to offer Amazon Locker, a secure, self-service kiosk for parcel pickups.
Stockland has recently installed Amazon Locker across a number of retail locations in NSW and Victoria.
Locations include the Piccadilly Centre in Sydney CBD, Stockland Green Hills in Maitland, Stockland The Pines in Doncaster East as well as Stockland centres in Merrylands, Baulkham Hills, Balgowlah, Glendale, Nowra, Shellharbour, Wetherill Park, Point Cook and Wendouree, and others. 
Amazon Locker provides customers with the flexibility to pick up a package at a convenient time, rather than having it delivered to a home or business address.
Shipping to an Amazon Locker at Stockland is available at no additional cost.
During checkout, customers will select a Locker at the nearest Stockland location as their shipping address. Once their package is ready for pickup, customers will receive an e-mail along with a barcode that they’ll use to pick up their package during store hours.   
“Our customers continue to demonstrate their desire for innovative in-centre features, tech-integrated amenity and convenience led initiatives to enhance their everyday shopping experience. It is integral that Australian shopping centres continue to evolve and adapt to retailer, customer and global demands,” Stockland Group Executive and CEO of Commercial Property, Louise Mason said. 
“This partnership with Amazon is another way we are curating our offering to what our customers really want. We view online shopping on platforms such as Amazon as an extension of what our retail town centres can provide customers.
“At Stockland we believe the future of retail is about creating places that are at the heart of communities, provide exceptional convenience and offer tailored and unique experiences for customers.”
 
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Stockland partners with Amazon Locker

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Amazon's Australian headquarters will be on Market Street in the Sydney CBD.
As the technology giant steps up its expansion, Amazon already occupied office space at 2 Park Street.
The Australian Financial Review says it is now set to occupy 2 Market Street.
Allianz is leaving the building after it sold its half-stake in the tower to Charter Hall.
Allianz occupies more than 18,000 square metres in the building's total of nearly 40,000 square metres in office space.
The second largest tenant is Caltex with 9,000 sq m. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will be vacating in 2021.
Amazon's distribution centres started in Melbourne's Dandenong South, securing a 24,387 square metre former Bunnings distribution centre from Melbourne's Pellicano family.
The online retailer will open its second distribution centre in Sydney's south-west after leasing a 43,000 square metre facility at Moorebank from Goodman Group.
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Amazon's new Australian headquarters location revealed 

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Online retail giant Amazon’s decision to block Australian shoppers from its US website has prompted an outpouring of anger from its customers. However, economic statistics indicate the actual value of online purchased products entering Australia from international marketplaces is relatively low. While some shoppers will be disappointed by Amazon’s decision, others will simply find ways around the geoblock.
The federal government has been <a href="https://www.2gb.com/gst-on-online-shopping-should-have-happened-ten-years-ago-gerry-harvey-says/" target="_blank">under pressure from legacy retailers like Gerry Harvey</a>, who have called for an end to the GST exemption on overseas online purchases worth less than A$1,000.
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison last year <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F345ee0b5-7f9d-47ea-a37c-53d1b10edff0%2F0030%22" target="_blank">introduced legislation</a> for this measure, arguing it will “establish a level playing field for our domestic retailers”. From July 1, 2018, GST will apply to all overseas online purchases.
The Australian Retailers Association has proposed a “<a href="https://www.retail.org.au/mediacentre/ara-calls-productivity-commission-widen-net-gst/" target="_blank">vendor collection model</a>” under which foreign retailers would collect the GST at the time of purchase and then pay it to the Australian Taxation Office.
But the fact is that these measures won’t level the playing field. Overseas online prices for many items are so low that that even if GST were added, they would still be <a href="https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-online/articles/buying-cheaper-clothing-online" target="_blank">far cheaper than they are in Australia</a>. For example, a recent search showed Levi’s 510 jeans for A$115 at Myer, compared with A$74.85 in the United States; and a Uniqlo Women’s ultralight down jacket for A$200 here, versus A$154.10 over there.
In 2017 Australians spent an estimated <a href="https://business.nab.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/NORSI-DEC-2017.pdf" target="_blank">A$24.2 billion online</a>. Yet this is just 7.8% of the amount spent at bricks-and-mortar shops. And more than 80% of online spending was through domestic retailers, which are subject to GST.
With only A$4.84 billion spent via overseas retailers, a quick calculation indicates that adding 10% GST to those purchases would have added A$484 million to the government’s coffers last year.
<h2>Why has Amazon blocked Australia?</h2>
Amazon has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/05/31/world/asia/ap-as-australia-amazon" target="_blank">blamed the new GST rules</a> for its decision to bar Australian shoppers, arguing that the vendor collection model would create significant operational difficulties:
<blockquote>
While we regret any inconvenience this may cause customers, we have had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites.
</blockquote>
Yet rival online seller eBay seems to have managed to <a href="https://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/content/gst-fees-ebaycomau" target="_blank">implement the vendor collection model</a> without undue trouble. It looks as if Amazon, which generated <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/266282/annual-net-revenue-of-amazoncom/" target="_blank">almost US$180 billion in sales last year</a>, views the Australian market as just too small to justify the hassle. In fact, one study has estimated that Amazon will only gain a <a href="https://www.macquarie.com/au/advisers/expertise/market-insights/is-amazon-the-end-of-australian-retail-as-we-know-it/" target="_blank">16% share of Australian online retail sales by 2025</a>.
Amazon’s view on Australia’s red tape may well be right. Modelling by Australia Post suggests that if the postal service were tasked with assessing and collecting the GST on international deliveries, it would cost almost A$900 million to collect A$300 million in revenue.
<h2>Who are the winners and losers?</h2>
As mentioned above, Amazon probably won’t suffer much from cutting loose its relatively small Australian customer base. But what about the customers themselves, and Amazon’s competitors?
When <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/" target="_blank">Amazon Australia</a> (not to be confused with the now geoblocked US site) launched in December 2017, just in time for the Christmas rush, <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/retail/amazon-australia-3-8-million-aussies-december" target="_blank">3.8 million Australians visited the site</a> during that month alone. But this is well short of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/does-amazon-australias-retail-launch-spell-the-end-of-ebay-20171205-gzywck" target="_blank">11 million Australian shoppers</a> who visit eBay each month.
Amazon’s withdrawal will undoubtedly benefit eBay and other sites such as <a href="https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/AU/australia" target="_blank">Alibaba</a>, which look set to attract shoppers who are still hungry for an international bargain.
While some dedicated fans of Amazon’s US site are <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/we-regret-any-inconvenience-this-may-cause-amazon-to-stop-shipping-to-australia-from-july-1/news-story/f90d87e59d29cc589ea9c184f3f5f40b" target="_blank">understandably annoyed</a>, most customers simply won’t notice the difference. Customers will be automatically directed to Amazon’s domestic offering, which claims to stock more than 60 million products.
For Australia’s traditional retailers, the playing field still isn’t really “level”, even without access to Amazon US. Don’t expect everyone to suddenly start banging down Harvey Norman’s doors come July 1. In reality the impact will be minimal.
<h2>How to get around the geoblock</h2>
For the very determined shopper who demands access to Amazon US, there are naturally ways around geoblocking technology, such as re-shipping services, freight forwarders, and <a href="https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/internet-privacy-and-safety/articles/bypass-geo-blocking" target="_blank">VPNs</a>.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97612/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">But given that the <a href="https://gopages.neto.com.au/rs/618-SCT-255/images/The%20State%20of%20Ecommerce%20Guide%202017.pdf" target="_blank">average online shopping basket</a> was worth A$145 in 2017, it seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to avoid paying A$14.50.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gary-mortimer-1322" target="_blank">Gary Mortimer</a>, Associate Professor in Marketing and International Business, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847" target="_blank">Queensland University of Technology</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fear-not-shoppers-amazons-australian-geoblock-wont-cramp-your-style-97612" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Online overseas shopping not prevalent before Amazon geoblock

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Amazon has leased a 43,000sq m industrial facility in Sydney's Moorebank, at the Goodman Centenary Distribution Centre.
It is due to start operations in the second half of the year, Robert Bruce, Amazon Australia's operations director said.
"We are thrilled to be establishing our next fulfilment centre in Sydney and working with incredible people in the local community around Moorebank.
"Sydney represents another important development for our growth strategy in Australia, following a steady and progressive increase in customer demand," Robert Bruce said.
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<div>
"This new facility builds on the capabilities of our first centre in Dandenong South, allowing us to continue to fulfil our commitment to fast and reliable deliveries for Australian customers."
<div id="article-inline-ad">Amazon's Australian debut was in Melbourne's Dandenong South last year, securing a 24,387sq m former Bunnings distribution centre from Melbourne's Pellicano family.</div>
</div>
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The new Sydney warehouse would allow the company to speed up delivery to customers, Amazon said.
Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller was pleased to welcome Amazon which employs around 1200 already in Australia.
“This is a great win for our local community; the Amazon facility will be a boon for South West Sydney and we look forward to having good jobs for people close to where they live and having a partner involved in the local community.”
 
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Amazon takes Moorebank warehouse space in first South West Sydney lease 

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The Amazon effect has clearly set in.
Long before the online retail giant stepped into Australia, there was nervousness among retailers here.
Now, with Amazon officially launching its marketplace, Myers and Woolworths are among those who are preparing for the increased competition. So are other leading retailers such as JB Hifi and Harvey Norman, among others.
Myer has come up with The Myer Market, which launched recently and is a marketplace that allows third parties to sell their wares, similar to eBay.
At Woolworth's annual general meeting, its Chairman Gordon Cairns said the supermarket chain was ramping up its online offering in response to Amazon’s entry.
Meanwhile, at Mirvac's annual meeting in November, its chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said she was looking forward to Amazon’s arrival.
"Our view is that the fear is far worse than the reality's going to be," Lloyd-Hurwitz told The Australian Financial Review after the AGM.
Mirvac’s portfolio includes the country's most productive mall, the Broadway, in uptown Sydney.
Mirvac's specialty sales growth, a key indicator, is also rising. In the September quarter, specialty sales growth hit 6 per cent among Mirvac's malls, unlike many other malls 
As online shopping surges, it has also had another effect.
Real estate developers are investing record sums of money into new warehouse space, building bigger, taller structures to meet the needs of e-commerce - and the robots that help it along, Bloomberg reported.
Builders spent $US2.7 billion on US warehouse construction in October, the most since the census started keeping track in 1993.
The size of the average warehouse completed this year was 188,000 square feet, more than double the size in 2001, according to a CBRE report cited by Bloomberg.
"It's the notion of the endless aisle," said Joe Dunlap, a managing director at CBRE.
A retailer stocking 30,000 items in its stores might offer 10 times as many items for sale online. More stock means larger footprints. Higher ceilings accommodate mezzanine levels, letting operators cram more shelves into a building.
Amazon recently bought more than 2 hectares of land in Sydney’s southwest, next to a warehouse it has a lease for. It paid $7 million for the land, according to News.com.au.
Earlier this year, Amazon secured its first distribution centre in Melbourne's outer south eastern suburbs (picture above).
The online retail giant had earlier missed its widely anticipated launch on Black Friday.
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Australian retail biggies beef up online presence to combat Amazon

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Did you know that Australians can partner with Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer ($136 billion in sales last year in 11 global markets)?
You can build your own business on their platform without having the usual e-commerce business challenges such as building a website, finding customers or shipping products to those customers.
Amazon is your chance to escape the rat race. Imagine being paid every 2 weeks no matter where in the world you are...you could be travelling, enjoying quality time with your family or helping make the world a better place.
Treat an Amazon business like an investment rather than a traditional business.
Once an Amazon business has been set up correctly it takes less time and effort to manage than a property portfolio.
People (justlikeYOU) are building aside-business by selling products on Amazon.
Adam Hudson, Leading Amazon expert, serial entrepreneur &amp; founder of Reliable Education is keen to show you How to Partner with Amazon to generate a RELIABLE INCOME that gives you FINANCIAL &amp; TIME FREEDOM!
In his <a href="https://online.reliable.education/free-amazon-training-course?affiliate_id=799620&amp;aff_sub=&amp;aff_sub2=&amp;nopopup=false&amp;noautoplay=false&amp;cookiepreview=false" target="_blank">Free 4 Part Video Series</a> Adam tells you why Amazon’s such an incredible business opportunity &amp; teaches key principles for starting an Amazon business.
Adam's been featured in Sky Business News, ABC News, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, WebRetailer.com, Inc.com and Newsweek. Adam's offering you FREE access to his <a href="https://online.reliable.education/free-amazon-training-course?affiliate_id=799620&amp;aff_sub=&amp;aff_sub2=&amp;nopopup=false&amp;noautoplay=false&amp;cookiepreview=false" target="_blank">4 Part Amazon Training Course</a> over flowing with everything you need to know to get started.
Here’s what Reliable Education students had to say about the course:
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spost-fCfKtoCdFu

Right Place, Right Time - Build An Amazon Business Today!

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GUEST OBSERVER
The loss of the high-value young grocery shopper is the biggest risk facing Coles and Woolworths when Amazon disrupts the Australian grocery market.
According to a major new survey of 20,000 Australians conducted by the Roy Morgan Research Institute, while younger Australians like Millennials represent future value for supermarket giants, they also represent the consumers most at risk from the Amazon juggernaut expected to sweep Australian shores in coming months.
An advance briefing by Roy Morgan on their Supermarket Survival Survey revealed that 73 per cent of the highest value younger consumers known as NEO-Millennials already shop online. And they are 85 per cent more likely than the average Australian to shop online. They and their equivalents in Gen X are the fertile feeding ground for Amazon in Australia.
Despite this major shift in the future of shopping behaviour, the survey reveals that supermarket chains have been focusing on what is known as ‘owned media’ – media channels they own and run very well. The best examples of supermarket owned media are their magazines and catalogues.
Their magazine titles, for example, dominate the entire magazine market. The Coles Magazine is Australia’s most read title with 3.2 million readers of an average issue, ahead of Woolworth’s Fresh on 2.7 million readers – both well ahead of Better Homes and Gardens (1.81m), Women’s Weekly (1.76m) and Woman’s Day (1.56m).
However, the research reveals that incumbent supermarket brands may need a new approach to their magazines and catalogues – particularly with the spectre of Amazon looming on the horizon.
The survey reveals that only 2.2 per cent of Australians find magazines useful when purchasing groceries, compared to 49 per cent who find catalogues a useful tool. The Internet (20 per cent), newspapers (6 per cent) and television (5 per cent) are all ahead of magazines as grocery influencers.
In the supermarket category, catalogues rule. In an average 4 weeks 7,179,000 Australians read a Woolworths catalogue, and 7,115,000 read a Coles catalogue. This balance in favour of Woolworths is borne out in the shopping behaviour of Australians with 4.5 million mainly shopping at Woolworths compared to 4.3 million at Coles.
However, future shareholder value and profitable growth of Australia’s supermarket brands lie in the hands of the younger generations like Millennials – particularly the highest value NEO-Millennials. Australia’s 1.5 million NEO-Millennials are even less influenced by magazines with only 1.7 per cent finding them useful when shopping for groceries – in stark contrast to the power of the Internet with 39 per cent using it to inform their grocery spending. Ninety-one per cent of NEO-Millennials are in the top third of discretionary spenders in the economy – and supermarkets are chock-full of discretionary products.
Alarmingly, this high-value supermarket shopper is 157 per cent more likely than the average Australian to buy groceries online. Why is this alarming? While it’s true that a quarter (25.4 per cent) of all Australians say they’d like to buy their groceries online, only 3.7 per cent actually do, seemingly quarantining the big supermarket brands from the Amazon threat.
Elsewhere in the world, the average online grocery behaviour of Amazon-targeted countries is reportedly between 25 and 30 per cent, enabling Amazon to simply transfer online shoppers from existing brands to their Amazon Fresh or Amazon Prime offerings.
In Australia, however, with less than 4 per cent shopping for groceries online, Amazon has to grow the pie before it can take its slice. So, NEO-Millennials are a juicy target for Amazon. They spend their lives online and their online grocery shopping is already approaching 10 per cent. Add to that the fact that sixteen per cent of NEO-Millennials already are Amazon shoppers – 82 per cent more than the average Australian – they have to be considered easy pickings for Amazon.
And because they are younger, they represent lifetime value to the big supermarket chains.
So, how can Australia’s supermarket brands best prepare themselves for the Amazon assault? Certainly not on price or delivery. On all available data, Coles and Woolworths simply cannot win a price war with Amazon. And, despite Coles’ current fulfilment trial using UberRUSH to deliver groceries in Melbourne, the incumbents can’t win on delivery either.
An incumbent supermarket brand may have great supply chain, discounts, sale events, efficient &amp; inexpensive fulfilment, but it had better not have the second-best discounts &amp; fulfilment. When Amazon hits town, every retail brand in its merchandise category line-of-fire will be second best.
The American price / delivery battlefield provides stark evidence. Just look at Walmart, legendary in the US for the cheapest prices across its myriad grocery and general merchandise categories. A US study by Business Insider found that over a diverse basket of 25 grocery &amp; electronics products, Amazon was $US161.05 cheaper than Walmart. And Amazon keeps gazumping it on delivery cost and speed. Unimaginable just a few years ago.
So, what then of the incumbents’ catalogues and magazines? Are they part of the solution?
According to the Supermarket Survival Survey, magazines have a future role to play if the big incumbents adopt the new mantra of ‘think small’. The Supermarket Survival Survey reveals that the biggest threat to the supermarket categories is losing the high-value cohorts across younger generations, those shoppers most likely to already shop online and already consider a familiar Amazon more frictionless, relevant and trustworthy than their brands. These are the consumers motivated by the personal, the local, the handmade and who are moving towards zero friction and the ‘right to forget money’. They are ripe for disruption.
To retain them, Coles or Woolworths might, for example, position Amazon as the global giant, and then make their digital catalogue and magazine content relevant to different (small) communities – geographic communities, NEO-Millennials and communities of interest. Such a strategy would serve to replace the rapidly disappearing local media, highlighting not only the incumbents’ ubiquity but also their local proximity and relevance. Amazon will win on price and delivery but can never win on local authenticity.
So, the catalogues and magazines published by the supermarket incumbents have an opportunity to become their most potent weapons in the looming grocery war, but only with granular sociographic mapping of consumer types, like NEO-Millennials – way beyond geo-demographics and into the realms of local relevance and authenticity.
Dr Ross Honeywill is a social scientist and internationally published author. Executive Director of the Centre for Social Economics, he advises national and global clients on the peak-value consumer ecosystem and can be contacted <a href="https://rosshoneywill.com" target="_blank">here</a>.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

New Amazon threat to Coles and Woolworths

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/82307/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
There was genuine positivity at this year’s Australian Booksellers’ Association Conference in Melbourne in June.
The mood was one of camaraderie and optimism at the sharing of good news. And it only brightened with the news that our National Bookshop Day was to be rebranded this year as Love Your Bookshop Day. Why not?
Saturday is that day. Expect to see your local bookshop buntinged, postered, streamered and perhaps offering special bargains. Assuming, of course, you have a local bookshop. 
Store numbers have steadied in recent years and, as was reported at the conference, both independent and chain or franchise booksellers are expanding. Children’s book sales in particular are performing well. (“The bookshop is dead. Long live the bookshop,” reads a plaque at Embiggen Books in Melbourne’s CBD.) 
But over the past couple of decades the sector has wrestled with the challenges of superstores, GST, the GFC, one-sided international post deals, ebooks and online-only undercutters.
Now the greatest of these online stores, certainly in terms of market share, will soon be competing with Australian bookstores from a new base here. Amazon has secured a massive distribution centre site near Dandenong in outer-eastern Melbourne. Dire predictions for parts of the Australian retail sector have already been made. 
Local booksellers too will need to adjust to this new environment, in which Amazon will likely reduce its delivery time and charges significantly. This will place downward pressure on book prices, and thus booksellers’ margins and capacity to survive.
Amazon has itself experimented with physical bookstores in recent times, to underwhelming reviews, but its primary focus has, of course, been on being able to offer “everything” at the “everyday low prices” of its American precursors (and sometime role models), Walmart and Costco.
Today’s booksellers must choose what to put on their shelves from around 7,000 new releases each month. As all of these will be on the “shelves” of Amazon, local booksellers will need to maintain an intimate knowledge of what will appeal to their customer base.
This curatorial role, which has always been part of what good booksellers do, takes on extra importance in the digital age. Curating, one might say, is the opposite approach to that of Amazon, which instead expertly removes barriers to purchasing, encouraging impulse buying. The extra services local booksellers provide, in addition to low prices and the range of stock, will likely need beefing up also. Community building will be the order of the day.
The current shrinkage of review pages of broadsheet newspapers will also hurt many bookshops, as they depend on a degree of consensus as to what is important and valuable to read.
Price instability may well grow in Australia with the arrival of Amazon. Publishers have argued over the decades that this instability also discourages consumer confidence.
The Productivity Commission doesn’t accept arguments in favour of maintaining price levels for some products in order to keep the costs of others down. But regulatory bodies have special challenges when confronted with large, diverse conglomerates, such as Amazon. It has the capacity to drop prices for products in one category (such as books) to maximise competitiveness, while the overall bottom line is propped up by more profitable parts of the business (such as Amazon Web Services).
In the face of aggressive price cutting from firms like … well, Amazon … regulatory bodies concerned with fair prices for consumers are yet to find an effective means of properly accounting for the fact that its success has been partly based on exploiting publicly developed (and funded) technology and infrastructure, determined strategies of tax minimisation, aggressive use of IP and patent law, and sustained intransigence towards its workforce’s self-organisation and unionisation.
On Tuesday morning this past week, a crowd of parents and kids waited in the cold out the front of our local suburban bookshop till, at 9 o’clock, they could rush in and buy the latest Treehouse book, by Andy Griffiths. The bookseller handed out free copies of a quality cookbook to parents. Community spirit, human connectedness and customer loyalty all bloomed nicely.
As the legendary Collins bookseller, Michael Zifcack, recalled in his memoirs, “I realised early on that customer service was the secret of successful bookselling.”
I’ll be heading to that local shop on Saturday, but can also, of course, appreciate the access to more or less every available product that online shopping provides. No doubt there is room for both retail models within our society.
What remains most important, when thinking about the health of the book industry here, is that no matter how cheap we make these products, there won’t be effective demand for them unless people have the time and desire to read. 
This desire, in turn, rests most powerfully on the belief that what one knows and says matters; that democracy, its public sphere, and reason, evidence and logic are the driving forces of one’s society. For all of us, that challenge is ongoing and, broadly speaking, we will get the books and bookshops we deserve.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-hollier-13619" target="_blank">Nathan Hollier</a> is Director, Monash University Publishing, Monash University and author for <a href="https://theconversation.com/au" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.
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Love of bookshops in a time of Amazon and populism

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Amazon's arrival in the Australian retail market has been pinpointed as likely given suggestions it has secured its first distribution centre in Melbourne's outer south eastern suburbs.
Amazon has agreed to lease the 24,387 square metre former Bunnings distribution centre at 29 National Drive in Dandenong (above) within the M2 Industry Park, owned by Melbourne's wealthy Pellicano family, according to the AFR.
The vacant A-Grade warehouse, which stands on a large 7.7 hectare site, could potentially be doubled in size to suit Amazon's needs. 
It has been available for lease since October 2014 with an asking rent of $75 per square metre (or $1.8 million per annum).
The online giant, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, has been scouting for logistics hubs in Sydney and Melbourne since revealing its ambitions earlier this year to offer it full retail offering in Australia,
In Sydney, it is understood there's a deal looming between Amazon and industrial developer Goodman Group on a large fulfillment facility in the west, rumoured to be the Oakdale Industrial Estate, on Old Wallgrove Road, at Eastern Creek. 
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Amazon secures first Aussie distribution centre

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78534/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
E-commerce giant Amazon has struck a deal to acquire Whole Foods Market, an American supermarket chain with more than 400 stores.
The move has put even more pressure on Australian retailers as Amazon sets up shop in Australia. 
But the real threat to Australian retail lies in Amazon’s business model. It is a low-margin retailer that owns several other highly profitable and fast-growing businesses, such as cloud services. These other businesses can and do cross-subsidise its retail operations.
JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman have suggested they will compete with Amazon on price, but given the cost structure of Australian retailers this may not be possible.
Amazon is very lean
While Amazon is extremely large, it is very lean. In 2016 alone, Amazon sold US$94.7 billion of product globally. But the cost of buying (or manufacturing) these products was US$88.3 billion, leading to a gross profit of just US$6.4 billion. 
This means the mark-up Amazon puts on its products is very small. For example, in 2016 Amazon’s gross profit margin (gross profit divided by sales revenue) was just 6.8%. JB Hi-Fi had a margin of 21.9%, Woolworths26.8%, Wesfarmers 31.0%, Harvey Norman 31.4%, Myer 42.1% and Super Retail Group a whopping 43.4%.
But Australian retailers also face high operational costs (wages, advertising, marketing and leases). The two largest, Wesfarmers and Woolworths, both have operating expenses in excess of 24.0% of sales revenue, while Myer, Super Retail Group and Harvey Norman are all around 40.0%. JB Hi-Fi is an outlier at just 16.3%.
Another important measure to consider is the net profit margin. This shows what percentage of each dollar of sales the company ultimately earns after all costs (including tax) are factored in. Net margin is calculated by dividing net profit after tax by sales revenue.
The net profit margins for Australian retailers are, for the most part, quite low – around 2-3%. This means they don’t have much room to move on price. If they drop prices, many will become unprofitable. So even if Amazon doesn’t start a price war in Australia, its business model is such that prices will be extremely competitive. 
Amazon has other businesses
Most Australian retailers are only retailers. Some of the larger groups, such as Myer and Wesfarmers, operate across a few industries. But they ultimately still earn nearly all their revenue from buying and then re-selling physical products.
Amazon, on the other hand, has a profitable and booming services business. Its “services sales” represents about US$41.3 billion in sales, or 30% of its revenue. This covers third-party seller fees (Amazon charges other companies for access to its marketplace and warehouses), Amazon Web Services (a fast-growing provider of cloud services), digital subscriptions, advertising services and co-branded credit card fees.
In its 2016 annual report, Amazon reported US$12.2 billion in revenue from Amazon Web Services alone. The scariest thing for Australian retailers is that this has increased four-fold since 2013, and is responsible for nearly 75% of Amazon’s operating profit. 
Amazon, then, not only has a large, low-margin online retail offering, but is supported by a fast-growing, high-margin cloud service. 
Finding new ways to compete
Most Australian retailers will need to look at other ways of saving costs if they are to remain competitive with Amazon. For example, Coles and Woolworths can put even more pressure on suppliers to reduce their costs. Coles has recently signalled that it will pursue this strategy. And all of our retailers can try to reduce the cost of leases, and shift or reduce staff.
The small margins of most Australian retailers mean reducing prices alone isn’t a viable long-term strategy, especially as Amazon Web Services gains steam and Amazon is profitable in other countries.
Not every retailer will come under the same pressure, though. In the short term at least, groceries are still likely to be purchased in stores. But the same can’t be said of clothing and electronics. This means Woolworths and Wesfarmers should not be as concerned as Myer, Super Retail Group and JB Hi-Fi. 
The answer for retailers may be to look past price and compete on other aspects of the shopping experience, such as convenience or customer service. But only time will tell if that’s what the Australian public wants.
David Bond is Senior Lecturer, Accounting Discipline Group, University of Technology Sydney and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-bond-172639" target="_blank">here</a>.
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