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It's hard to find good retail staff. So much so, Sussan Group, Just Group and Myer are joining forces.

The Assistant Minister for Education and training Simon Birmingham will launch 'The New Retail Series' next week.

Industry representatives from Myer, Just Group, Sussan Group and Wittner Shoes were among those to provide input on the project.

The initiative is a series of pilot training programs aimed at addressing the skills and training gaps identified by Australian retail employers.

This includes shortages in areas such as merchandise management buying and planning functions.

These roles are predominately filled by 457 visa provisions, primarily from the United Kingdom.

Retailers across all sectors indicate that international recruitment is no longer a viable or sustainable option due to the high—upwards of 50 per cent failure rate of importing talent.

Two dedicated series are underway focusing on merchandise management and online retailing.

Series 1 – ‘Retail Merchandise’ focusses on creating a highly skilled, local talent pool in merchandise management and buying and planning functions.

This project was commissioned following extensive industry consultation, during which Australian retailers expressed significant concern about skills gaps and limited talent development opportunities.

Series 2 – ‘Online Retailing’ will focus on the skills needed to operative competitively in online retailing, outlining requirements to assist Australian retailers to break into both domestic and international markets.

The Department of Industry’s Skills Policy Unit supports the need to ensure speed to market of training, acknowledging that it is often inhibited by lengthy qualification endorsement processes.

As a result, approval has been granted to Service Skills Australia to develop the New Retail Series as a training pilot prior to official endorsement.

Employers and employees will have an opportunity to provide feedback on their experience, which will ensure the industry relevance of national training products is maximised.

Major retailers have nominated individuals to participate in the pilot program.

The training will be delivered by the Australian Retailers Association - Retail Institute and will incorporate a high level of practical application of learning, facilitated by leading retail professionals.

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