As we
prepare for a new year, many traders are giving thought to a retail strategy.
Waiting for things to change isn't likely to achieve much. Here is one trader's
view of what 2013 will bring.
1. Business - the basic retail
sales environment is not going to change much. Retail and research
organisations are predicting single digit increases over the next 12 months
(1-2%). Traders who want more than that will have to generate their own change.
2. Digital connections with
customers will become more important. Many traders have been comfortable
ignoring the steady trickle of digital innovations - social media, web access,
smartphones - but that trickle has become a flow, and before long will become a
torrent.
3. Traders will leave. Business
has been tough for three years now and more traders who have been supplementing
their business incomes with savings will call it quits.
4. Stall and Product Mix Changes
- management have already been active in subtle stall moves and adjustments to
traffic flow with things like new causeways. Expect more of the same.
5. After years of neglect, the
MCC will become more involved in the operation of the QVM.
6. Grand plans for the
re-development of the QVM (including car parking) appear to have stalled. The
State Government has announced some major projects in recent months and we are
not amongst them. Patience is not a virtue for many traders but we may need to
be patient for a while longer and concentrate on internal improvements in the
meantime - perhaps with a bit of help from MCC funding.
What do
you think will happen in 2013?
What are
your fears and aspirations?
Have YourSay - click here.
COMMENTS:
06/01/2013 22:22:49 Time to leave "Another year gone and queen vic is still not making a profit. Management are unwilling to make decisions on how to advertise general merchandise. Telling us to give discounts on our products but not willing to discount their product. After all, queen vic management is no more than rent collectors, spending too much time on facebook and twitter. And calling it advertising.
* Moving furniture around is not a solution .
* Making more walk ways is also not a solution
* Putting containers in and turning them into shops in non walk ways is also not a solution
Queen Vic is fast becoming like a milk bar with an empty fridge, and as the fridge gets less in it, less people are going to come and we are left with the decision on when to close or empty our bank account waiting or trying different products. Either way we are experimenting with, and losing our money.
In the last five years I have personally watched a lot of people ( good people) who were making lots of money, now making little or closed. These were people who were in business for a long time through many changes of government.
The queen Vic management must look to the future, after all. The great success of the Suzuki market can not continue if there is no general traders paying the rent for the rest of the year.
I'm now in a position to close my store in 2013 as my web page goes through the roof with sales that I am not getting from queen vic market.
I pray that God blesses all general merchandise traders who are still at Queen vic this year with great sales and success. And my thoughts are with those who are not at Queen vic any more. I pray they have gone on to bigger and better things. Merv Williams Custombilliards.com.au" Merv Williams
COMMENTS:
06/01/2013 22:22:49 Time to leave "Another year gone and queen vic is still not making a profit. Management are unwilling to make decisions on how to advertise general merchandise. Telling us to give discounts on our products but not willing to discount their product. After all, queen vic management is no more than rent collectors, spending too much time on facebook and twitter. And calling it advertising.
* Moving furniture around is not a solution .
* Making more walk ways is also not a solution
* Putting containers in and turning them into shops in non walk ways is also not a solution
Queen Vic is fast becoming like a milk bar with an empty fridge, and as the fridge gets less in it, less people are going to come and we are left with the decision on when to close or empty our bank account waiting or trying different products. Either way we are experimenting with, and losing our money.
In the last five years I have personally watched a lot of people ( good people) who were making lots of money, now making little or closed. These were people who were in business for a long time through many changes of government.
The queen Vic management must look to the future, after all. The great success of the Suzuki market can not continue if there is no general traders paying the rent for the rest of the year.
I'm now in a position to close my store in 2013 as my web page goes through the roof with sales that I am not getting from queen vic market.
I pray that God blesses all general merchandise traders who are still at Queen vic this year with great sales and success. And my thoughts are with those who are not at Queen vic any more. I pray they have gone on to bigger and better things. Merv Williams Custombilliards.com.au" Merv Williams
