Clicks to bricks: shoppers return to stores as e-commerce cools post-covid

Clicks to bricks: shoppers return to stores as e-commerce cools post-covid
Online-only retailers are losing customers. (Image: Getty)
Gregor Thompson
Retail consumer habits are evolving once again as covid-19 pandemic trends unravel.One major change is a reversal of the gains made by e-retailers, director of Coriolis Research Tim Morris told BusinessDesk.On May 10, The Warehouse Group said it would close down its e-commerce division TheMarket.Seven weeks earlier, when group chief executive Nick Grayston indicated that TheMarket would either be sold or closed, he told BusinessDesk that the website's downfall was due to a losing battle with Chinese giants Temu and Shein, difficulties with...

More Retail

Life insurance market shrinks
Finance Risky Business

Life insurance market shrinks

Foreign firms dominate as affordability, tax and access barriers stymie growth.

The quiet rise of ‘ghost brands’
Retail

The quiet rise of ‘ghost brands’

About 90% of the 80-odd Pita Pit stores now have virtual brands operating in them.

Gregor Thompson 17 Sep 2025
‘Unusual’ volume of CCCFA changes in focus
Finance

‘Unusual’ volume of CCCFA changes in focus

Select committee mulls proposed changes to CCCFA, to report recommendations Oct 20.

Andy Macdonald 16 Sep 2025
Two more Smiths City stores close as liquidation sale winds up, massive discounts
Retail

Two more Smiths City stores close as liquidation sale winds up, massive discounts

Embattled retailer Smiths City has closed two more stores as its fire sale draws winds up this weekend.Administrators Colin Gower and Diana Matchett of BDO Christchurch on Friday said staff numbers will significantly reduce from next week, with remaining staff to assist with deli...

Staff reporters 12 Sep 2025