Australia's Online Retailer of the Year...really?

The state of Australian online retail is more grim than I thought.
An online pet store, really? Is that the best we can do?

etailtoday.com.au - top online retailer article

On the flip side, at least we now have online retail awards...welcome to 2009 in Australia.

Gary Vaynerchuk says here that the web as we know it is 14 years old. We've been using the web for that long in Australia, but for some reason we haven't been taking it seriously.

I recently discovered Shopster, which is a brilliant site and idea. It is essentially an online marketplace for buying and selling products, but not in the way you think. It's nothing like ebay. It allows you to set up an online shop, but without owning, storing or even shipping any product. They basically make it as easy as humanly possible for anyone to start their own business, all in about an hour. I don't see this coming to Australia anytime in the next 3 years....but why?

Is it really the case that geography, physical size, lack of population density all make online retail impossible in Australia? I just don't buy it (excuse the pun).

In fact there are many highly successful retail sites in Australia, but nothing like it could be, like what it will be...

25 best blogs

Time’s 25 best blogs of 2009.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1879276,00.html

Berkovic blog will surely be there for 2010.

About me

Let this be a place holder for when I have a clearer idea of who I am, or at least, who I think I should say I am. At some point I will complete this section, I promise.

About this blog

This post ("About this blog") is edited frequently, because, the blog is constantly evolving and growing. Essentially this is a forum for me to post my observations about various things, pose questions (rhetorical and otherwise). More than anything it exists because it can. I think if you have something to say, it's important you get it out. And that's what I intent to do.

I have included "online retail" in the description of the blog because it is a current interest of mine. I am constantly finding interesting links, articles and resources relating to online retail and intend to share them here. Online retail globally has a long way to grow, and in Australia, where I live, there is an explosion coming. Something I am watching closely.

Contact me

You can contact me at paul_blog@berkovic.com

First post

Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy what you read.