Australian retail’s latest casualties make for uncomfortable reading. Cue and Veronika Maine entered administration in September, followed by BlackMilk Clothing in November. David Jones has now joined them. These failures raise difficult questions about outdated business models and rising operating costs, but also invite a broader discussion: have retailers lost sight of what truly motivates people to make a purchase today?

For television shopping presenter Rozz Switzer, retailers need to understand what customers are actually buying. They are not necessarily looking for another appliance or outfit, but an improvement in their lives. “After 30 years selling on television, I can tell you that people aren’t simply buying a product – they’re buying what they imagine that product will do for them,” Switzer told Inside Retail. The salesperson’s job is to make that possibility tangible.

Switzer learnt an early version of this lesson working at Just Jeans in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Someone might arrive looking for jeans, but staff would demonstrate how a belt, T-shirt and accessories could complete the outfit. “The jeans were one item; the outfit brought the whole look to life.” Rather than simply adding products to a transaction, the approach helped customers see how everything could work together.

Anaconda has taken that principle into its Adventure HQ in Brendale, Queensland, which opened in September. Shoppers can test winter clothing in a snow cave and watch lure demonstrations in a barramundi tank. These experiences turn product claims into something tangible, helping customers understand how equipment performs before committing to a purchase.

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