Taking care of businesses

Looks at how you can help smaller operators keep going

AUSTRALIANS who are lucky enough to have cash in their wallets are being urged to support businesses to ensure their survival during this hibernation period.

Across the country businesses of all descriptions – retailers, cafes, restaurants, hotels, gyms, salons, tradies – have been hit in some way.

While many businesses have been forced to close their doors or drastically overhaul the way they are operating, others are doing everything they can to fight for their survival.

Industry experts are asking Australians who are in a position to spend money – albeit carefully – to be generous and thoughtful regarding where they splash their cash.

SMALL BUSINESSES

The Council of Small Business of Australia’s chief executive officer, Peter Strong, urged Australians to “spread the word” about your favourite smaller operators in the hope it generates business.

“Go online and support small businesses,” he said. “If they have a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter page, say you will be supporting them when you can.

“Point out that they have great food or whatever it is they have, put it in public and say why it’s a great business.”

Mr Strong said many businesses were still operating and “they do need people to spend now”.

“You can buy clothing, a whole range of things – just make sure you do it from a small business wherever you can,” he said. “Tell your relatives and friends about them.”

Mr Strong urged Australians receiving the $1500 fortnightly JobKeeper payments to use the money wisely and support smaller operators.

“For those people who are getting $750 a week and they used to get a lot less pay, I think they really need to spend it with a small business,” he said.

ORDERING FOOD

It is estimated about one in three restaurants, cafes and caterers have temporarily closed their doors during the COVID-19 outbreak.

But Restaurant & Catering Australia’s chief executive officer, Wes Lambert, said it was critical diners continued to support businesses in the industry to ensure they survived at the end of this pandemic.

“Diners will lead the way in the recovery of the restaurant industry in Australia by continuing to patronise their local restaurant, either through pick-up and takeaway or through various ordering channels,” he said.

Mr Lambert said this could be done by ordering prepared or uncooked meal packs from favourite eateries, given people could not dine-in for the foreseeable future.

“In the very near future, when a limited number of people are allowed back into restaurants, it’s very important diners continue to dine as much as they were pre-COVID, or some of their favourite restaurants will struggle through survival in the recovery period,” he said.

Diners can also help eateries by ordering takeaway directly from the restaurant or cafe to ensure 100 per cent of their proceeds goes into the business’s own pockets.

Some food delivery services take a massive cut of up to 35 per cent of the total restaurant bill for delivering food to a customer’s front door.

BUY AUSSIE AND BUY NOW

The Australian Retailers Association’s chief executive officer, Paul Zahra, said one of the most important things anyone could do was “support Australian retailers”. “Some of them are open or they are ‘dark’ stores – they are doing their trade through their closed stores but they are using them to pick stock from,” he said. “The retail industry in

Australia supports 1.3 million people, so support those people who are working here in Australia.”

While some shoppers could be waiting months until many bricks and mortar stores reopen their physical doors, Mr Zahra said it was much more beneficial if shoppers did not wait.

“It’s important they spend now because the retailers need to move their stock,” he said. “They will have more stock coming in from overseas that’s already been pre-ordered.

“It’s a really good time to do it because retailers are engaging with their consumers and offering them great bargains at the moment.”

Some retailers are offering free deliveries on goods if customers spend over a certain threshold.

Popular department store chain Myer temporarily shut all its stores last month but has brought back staff to help cope with the increasing demand for online orders.

Latest figures show online sales were up 800 per cent over Easter this year compared with Easter last year.

Myer chief customer officer Geoff Ikin said the retailer was working hard to continue delivering good value to customers. “We’ve been successful in meeting the increasing demands online and fulfilling the unprecedented volume of orders,” he said. “The recent strength in our online results has allowed us to bring more than 2000 team members back to work to assist with our online fulfilment, which is our priority at the moment.”

Mr Zahra urged people wanting to order online to do so sooner rather than later, because there could be delivery delays. “Get in as early as you can, knowing that you may not receive items for three or four weeks, but you have time if something is wrong with the size, for example,” he said. “Some of the smaller shops are still open. Go in there and support them now.” Shopping centre giant Westfield this month rolled out a pick-up service for customers, which allows them to order from food and retail outlets and then pick up the goods from their nearest Westfield, while staying in their car.