Retail, what next?

With all the uncertainity in the financial markets, share market volitilty and the slide in the US dollar over the past week, even the experts cannot predict even closely what will occur next.

What chance has the average small retailer owner operator have of being able to know how many orders to place, or what new lines to look at stocking?

How will the average customer react to all the changes that have occured over the past week alone;

• US Dollar has dropped 10c, which will put upward pressure on imports
• Fixed mortgage interest rates have started to fall, which may indicate less increase pressure on the variable rate.
• Share Markets have been running up and down in 5% swings in very large volumes, lots of on edge investors!
• The Recession word is getting used a lot more, self fulfilling prophecy?

We are constantly being told by our Political leaders that our Nation's financial fundamentals are good and it does appear to be correct, especially when compared to overseas economies.
So why does what happens on Wall Street, effect us so much? A lot of what happens, particularly in the share market, just comes down to the fear of being caught out and losing your hard earned cash in a major slide. Australians have a very high ownership of shares now, but many investors do not have a good understanding of the triggers that drive the market. Many investors buy for the correct long term reasons, but sell quickly on the first bad news received, or just because everyone else is selling.

The effect of the last few weeks will not be felt in full by Retaillers until several weeks time, hopefully by then we will be heading into the summer christmas season, when most Retailers make their profits for the year and the financial world will have stabilised and consumer confidence will have returned.

Come on Australia, open your wallets and start spending!