Our heading may be the understatement of the year on Victraders.com.
The
overwhelming sentiment under the sheds this weekend has been anger and
frustration. Anger at the state of business and the poor response from
customers as sales continue to decline.
This
is serious. September is one of our worst trading months and it is showing.
Trader’s sales are reaching depths previously unheard of and the future is not
looking good.
The
reason? This might sound stupidly simplistic but customers are simply not
buying. There appears to be a significant reduction in willingness to spend and
if we can put a customer hat on for a minute, who can blame them? The press is
full of really good reasons not to spend. Wages are stagnant and we are having
to eat into savings, power bills are up, mortgage payments take a huge part of
our available funds and what if interest rates go up? There is talk of a real estate bubble and questions about the share market being able to keep climbing. What self respecting,
family responsible consumer would go out spending?
Of
course our economy relies on spending to keep the wheels turning and generating
confidence is a responsibility that Federal and State Governments are battling
with. The Federal Government’s high profile “hauling across the coals” of power
companies, and their pricing, is just one example (pun intended).
And
that leads us back to the anger thing. Blaming QVM Management and CoM is still evident
amongst traders although there is a growing realisation that retail decline is
in fact global. Many of the very best, smartest,and highly manouverable
retailers are struggling. Myer reported an 80% drop in profit this week. And
unlike what many traders are suggesting, major retailers are not throwing huge
amounts of many at traditional advertising. Smart promotion these days is
through social media and QVM is well equipped in that area.
There
has been a lot of press over recent months about the crazy ideas that retailers
are trying. IKEA recently admitted that they will try almost anything to gauge
customer response. Many organisations are releasing details of even minor
trials like Australia Post testing a drone, Coles experimenting with grocery
deliveries by bike (Deliveroo), and Amazon’s testing a shop without registers
or staff (as far as we know that is still just a test). They do this because
new ideas are worth trying but also because the results on social media are
worth the effort. The spread of news across social media is quick, expansive
and cheap and they are seen as innovative responsive retailers. Social media
has great capacity to promote. RonnieZ’s caravan at the top of String Bean
Alley claimed to have got 21,000 views on Instagram this week after some professional
Instagramers took a photo in front of his juice van and today (Sunday) he has been featured in an Age newspaper article.
One
industry very close to retailers that is battling consumer headwinds is of
course wholesaling. If retailers are struggling with change so are their
suppliers and even more so as retailers go direct to manufacturers. The gift
trade exhibition circuit (key buying opportunities for retailers) has responded
well to the downturn. Last July’s Melbourne Gift Fair looked vibrant and full.
That was largely because they had amalgamated with the fashion industry and
filled vacant spots with fashion. They had responded to change. The upcoming
Sydney Gift Fair (one of the biggest of the year) has been recreated into
precincts with alluring names like Abode, Boutique, Galleria and Runway and
advertises “80 new suppliers”. Re-inventing their presentation is expected to
bring them results. Can QVM be flexible like that?
The
flexibility of major retail organisations and the ability to try a range of
news ideas is something that QVM and its traders needs to look at more closely
and we need to do it quickly. We are traditional and inflexible. We have many
rules, procedures and attitudes that make change difficult and inhibit
experimentation. And I am not just talking about market rules but Trader
attitudes as well. As one trader said this week - “Protecting your little patch
is fine, and it is great that some traders are still doing ok, but it is hard
to do business in a ghost town, and if we don’t start taking a “what's best for
our market” view we are all doomed.”
Probably
the single biggest concern of traders is losing their spot and will they end up
in a worse situation. Well, the obvious answer to the second bit is that not
changing will almost certainly guarantee a worse situation while curated change
to a better presented market will offer some chance of improvement. And if you
have a prime corner spot right now then you should receive a similar prime spot
in any move.
QVM
Management need to do something serious about curating our market and
presenting it in its best possible light. That may need more resources than
they currently have allocated but it will also need a big dose of Trader
co-operation to be effective. How soon can we start?
By Greg Smith
