86% of large Australian retail chains expect to increase their spending on online marketing during the next 12 months – and none plan to reduce it.

That’s a key finding of a study undertaken by the Australian Centre for Retail Studies at Monash University, supported by AIMIA’s Retail Industry Group.

Other core findings included:

* 78 per cent expect to develop an online selling capability.

* 53 per cent of retailers are concerned about the impact of online international competitors.

* 85 per cent of respondents believe that being proactive with online marketing and online sales will yield long term competitive advantage.

When asked to rank the top three most important Online media in the next 12 months… email marketing comes out at number one:

Perhaps the most important point is that this is seen as a landmark study that will form the basis of an annual benchmarking study, giving retailers a comprehensive picture of the rate of online adoption across a range of areas.