Australia’s high street battle is set to explode in early 2014. If there was any lingering doubt of the country’s clout as a global retail and fashion destination, that will be dismissed when the latest influx of major international fast fashion players – Sweden’s H&M and Japan’s Uniqlo – hit our shores early next year.

While unconfirmed, the whispers continue to get louder that Forever 21 from the US and iconic British department store Marks & Spencer are also Australia-bound. M&S Leasing Executives are reportedly eyeing a site in a planned $72m redevelopment on George Street in Sydney's CBD that will see a soaring office and retail precinct, tram and pedestrian walkway.

This all comes hot on the heels of the hyped and highly successful 2011 and 2012 launches of Zara and Topshop (from Spain and the UK respectively), which signaled the beginning of the high street revolution.

H&M, the world’s second biggest retailer (behind Zara) with annual sales of $18.13bn (US) will open its doors in Melbourne’s GPO building in the first half of 2014. The brand is famed for its collaborations with hot right-now-designers – the latest Isabel Marant for H&M line which launched in November saw customers camping out the previous evening with coveted items sold out in minutes.

A three-level 3000 square metre site on Sydney's George Street is set to follow Melbourne, and a Brisbane site is also being considered. The Sydney branch will complete what experts have dubbed the Golden Triangle – a reference both to its prime CBD location and proximity to Zara and Top Shop.

Also intent on shaking up the local fashion landscape is Japanese retailer Uniqlo, purveyor of colourful denim and cashmere sweaters at cheap and cheerful prices. A branch is opening in Melbourne in early 2014 with a Sydney store to follow. What Uniqlo lacks in design direction it makes up for in covetable simplicity, which experts predict will be a welcome addition to Aussie wardrobes.

Ditto California’s Forever 21, the fast fashion juggernaut aimed at the youth market, which generates annual revenue of $3.7bn (US). The company is believed to be scouting for a site on Pitt Street Mall, which underwent a $1.2bn overhaul in 2010 to become Westfield Sydney, enticing the big guns of Zara and Gap in the process.

The availability of expansive multilevel flagship stores in Westfield meant the international brands could finally open stores in Australia. Indeed such has been the success of our first designer mega-mall that the likes of Chanel, Gucci, Prada and Miu Miu have all happily taken up residence behind the churn-and-burn high street brands.

“We’ve got more and more retailers coming to Australia and why wouldn’t they? We’ve got a very stable market and economy and nothing like the 25% unemployment rate of somewhere like Spain," says Russell Zimmermann, executive director of Australian Retailers Association.

“Australian consumers today travel regularly overseas to the UK, US, Europe and Asia and they only have to walk down the streets of somewhere like New York or Singapore to see all the big brands. They understand it, they love it and they want it."

Customers at the Isabel Marant sale at H&M in Regent St, London. Photograph: David Levene Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

The Aussie consumer, the undisputed winner in all this, is driving international demand. Where once Australians had to travel overseas to buy the latest catwalk-inspired pieces, today that can be fulfilled by the likes of Zara, Topshop and Muji (which opened its first Australian store in Chadstone Melbourne last month). Even chains that have not yet opened bricks and mortar stores have still descended online – fashion retailers Net-A-Porter, Asos, JCrew and Next have all launched Australian sites in response to demand.

What impact will heavyweight international brands will have on the local market? Zimmermann believes the competition has forced Australia's long-established homegrown brands to reinvigorate.

“Before Zara many retailers were complacent in Australia, plodding along with just four seasons. But Zara offering new stock and freshness every two to four weeks has taught us a lot, ” says Zimmermann. He cites Forever New, Country Road and Cotton On as “fantastic examples of Aussie brands” who have helped raise the high street bar.

Founded in 1974, a decade ago Country Road was in the doldrums but has emerged in recent years as a fully-fledged fashion and lifestyle brand, praised for consistently good, on-trend pieces. In August, Seed (the nearest Australia has to J Crew) rebranded as Seed Heritage in a bid to expand into Asia. Portmans and Kookai, meanwhile, have anointed Australian supermodels Jess Hart and Catherine McNeil as their glamorous faces to maintain kudos in an increasingly competitive market.

But what will the arrival of M&S mean for David Jones and Myer – already embroiled in their own store wars? Zimmermann believes there is room in the market for another department store.

“It would be a challenge but our department stores have to reinvent themselves and both are working hard to get their model right and provided they do they will both be great retailers.” As for whether the future is refined to a mega mall, Zimmermann says shoppers still crave a shopping strip.

“Pitt Street is one of the best examples of a retail precinct getting it right. George Street will experience turmoil from 2015 to 2017 when they build the tram line, but what better way to get people moving through the CBD? It’s going to be wonderful for the city and I don’t buy the criticism about narrow streets. I’ve stood on the sidewalk in Istanbul and literally touched the tram on one side and the store window on the other and that didn’t stop anyone shopping.”

And Australians do continue to shop, to the tune of $42.2bn in pre-Christmas sales according to ARA, on booming high streets that experts predict will soon rival the likes of Fifth Avenue.

“Over the next five years I believe Australia will stand very proudly against the major cities of New York, Tokyo and Europe with a retail environment that is as good, if not better,” says Zimmermann.