Barring any possible glitches, cigarettes marketed in Australia will hit the shelves in December 2012 bearing nothing but a plain olive brown packaging and a bold health advisory meant to dissuade smokers from lighting their next stick.
Australian retailer Myer announced on Thursday plans to shutter underperforming stores and boost its online presence to reach an overall sales target of $4 billion by 2015.
Australian consumers appear to continue their migration to online shopping but most players in the retail industry seem to continue miss the significant surge because they have yet to implement the necessary adjustments on their websites.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing finance figures for September 2011 show in trend terms that the number of finance commitments increased for the fifth consecutive month; the September increase was 1.2 percent.
Apple may have won a temporary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab but don't expect retailers or determined buyers to take the ban lying down. Australian electronics retail websites like MobiCity and Dmavo are still selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 despite the injunction and Apple's threats to sue.
The third quarter was another bad period for Australia's retail industry, except for online sellers, as supermarkets and department stores recorded declining sales.
The specs for Barnes and Noble's new tablets was leaked a week ahead of its official announcement and it looks like it's aimed as a direct competitor to Amazon's Kindle Fire.
As floods continue to wreck havoc in Thailand, the death toll has now risen to 356 and more than 2 million had been affected within the 147 districts and 26 provinces still submerged by the worst natural disaster in a century in this developing Southeast Asian country.
A Briton revealed that Google has finally removed a fake online review of his business on Google's Places that mentioned him as a pedophile after his request to delete it have been ignored for 18 months. Unfortunately, the damage had been done.
Supermarket chain giant Woolworths will open 39 new stores in Australia and New Zealand in fiscal 2012 and create 10,000 new jobs, the company announced Tuesday.
The confidence of small businesses in Australia is yet to be fired up, according to the results of the latest survey done by the National Australia Bank.
The distinction between online retailers and bricks-and-mortar stores is slowly being erased due to the falling rates of rentals in Australia.
Forgotten and unclaimed money amounting to AU$636 million is waiting for its rightful owners to follow simple step-by-step procedures to claim their money, says the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Through the MoneySmart website, the Aussies are encouraged to determine if any of the state governments has their money, and if so, lodge a claim.
The Australian Beverages Council, representing the Australian non-alcoholic beverage industry, has criticised the recent US study attempting to link increased soda consumption with violence.
Amid global calls for review of excessive executive compensation while the rest of the company employees continue to tighten their belts due to wage hike freezes, an Australian retailer reduced the pay of its top boss.
The latest addition to the directory of Ikea's stores will also be the biggest in the southern hemisphere. The megamart is twice the size of the Sydney Cricket Ground, according to reports. On top of its 9000-product offering, shoppers will enjoy a 760-seat restaurant and 1680 dedicated car spaces.
The bus drivers union agreed on Tuesday night to an Industrial Relations Commission order to lift a ban on gas-powered buses in Sydney. The explosion of a gas-powered bus prompted public bus drivers to raise their protest by refusing to get on the road, resulting in huge inconvenience among Sydney passengers at peak hour Tuesday.
It will soon cost readers of "The Australian", $2.95 weekly to access the newspaper's online content through computers, smartphones and tablets.
AFTERNOON REPORT
(4.30pm AEDT)Local stocks managed to erase all of yesterday's gains during Tuesday's session, with fear and caution again at the forefront of investors' minds. Overnight, sentiment wasn't helped by negative commentary from Germany's Finance Minister who warned it was unrealistic to expect a definitive solution to the European debt crisis at this weekend's European Union summit.
Shareholders of Telstra have agreed and voted in favor of the $11 billion deal with the Australian government, allowing Telstra's fixed-line dominance be used by the NBN Company.
MIDDAY REPORT
(12pm AEDT)The Australian sharemarket is down 1.6 pct or 71.5 pts to 4266.4, effectively wiping out all of yesterday's impressive gains. Markets tumbled overnight due to concerns that the European debt solution might fall short of expectations.
Australia's central bank has hinted that benchmark cash rates in the country may go down after months of being held at 4.75 percent.
Adapting to new technologies such as having an online presence was the way how small businesses in Australia coped with the hard times.
Retail establishments in Australia are passing on to shoppers the cost of goods stolen worth about $2 billion yearly. A study on retail crime places the amount at an average of $284 a year hidden as "honesty taxes," the Herald Sun reports.
The high cost of living is putting more low-income Aussies at risk of falling into poverty, a report says. Poorer households are compelled to spend more of their income on essential goods and services due to price hikes on these non-discretionary items, such as food and electricity, a report by St Vincent de Paul Society says. As a result, households' health and education expenses are delayed, if attended at all.
More than half of Australian mid-market companies are not properly prepared for persistent fluctuations in business conditions, according to the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Future Business Index.
The 99 Cents Only stores in the U.S., which became a phenomenon in the retail industry, have been acquired reportedly for approximately $1.6 billion by a private equity company from Los Angeles.
Australian consumers are becoming more optimistic on the general outcome of the economy, but the most important aspect of spending is still something that they are holding back.
Steve Jobs made headlines all around the world with every launch of Apple's new products but more recently, the creative genius made his final headline when he passed away due to pancreatic cancer last Oct. 5.
The move of eBay Australia to strike a partnership with premier clothing brands and launch a dedicated fashion gallery has opened up more options for consumers across the country.
