'Sharable' shopping to boom

Sharable, Instagram – friendly experiences is what we desire, fueling a spike in unique shopping and dining experiences in 2017.

Australia’s independent venues and stores are enjoying a revival with December sales lifting from the same time 2015, figures from eftpos provider Tyro show. The sales boost is driven by consumers voracious desire for sharable, personalised experiences in smaller venues with charachter, says Tyro CEO Gerd Schenkel.

 Also read: One in 10 Aussies to shop on Christmas Eve

In December, Australia’s 62,000 small and medium sized hospitality venues saw sales soar 10 per cent to $8 billion while SME retailers receipts also bumped up to $23.5 billion.

“The mass participation in social media has driven the desire to curate a unique life. People want to experience unique sharable things,” Schenkel told Yahoo 7 Finance.

He believes “David is beating Goliath when it comes to the hearts and minds of Aussie consumers, as personalised hospitality beats the often homogenous and soulless experience of some large chains.”

These personalized experiences extend to shopping, eating out, holidays and going to the movies.

“People are willing to pay more for the same product if it comes with a unique personalised experience.” 

This revival of real time consumer experiences comes after a shaky period for SME sector, who feared the shift to online shopping and the populairty of eBay and Amazon, would spell the end of bricks and mortar stores.

Small retailers are forecast to beat the sales of larger chains like JB Hi-Fi and Myer by $15bn for the 2016 financial year, Tyro figures indicate. Independent hospitality venues, too, look set to quadruple the sales of their larger rivals,  soaring to $80 billion by June 30.

Consumers are expected to part with up to 10% more cash on restaurants, holidays and movies in 2017.