Bounce: ‘Wage subsidy did its job'
Pricewise was sold to its former major shareholder and Smiths City owner Polar Capital.
Price Wise Limited, trading as Pricewise with 16 stores nationwide including in Mount Maunganui, and its major distributor, Zenith Distribution Limited, was placed into receivership on August 21.
But Rodewald said there was a “rush” of inquiries in May when the lockdown ended.
“It certainly hasn’t been the busiest year. But in saying that, we’ve had a couple of busy periods. Pricewise was a big job.”
BDO Tauranga Ltd director Paul Manning said many businesses have recovered incredibly well from Covid-19 lockdown.
Manning said many will be paying a significant amount of provisional tax on January 15 next year based on “fantastic” trading results postlockdown.
He said there had been practically no business wind-ups as a direct result of Covid-19 to date.
“The liquidations/receivershipswe have undertaken since lockdown are for businesses, which were already struggling pre Covid-19.”
Love Your Business founder Phil Holland said he helped about 45 business owners one on one during lockdown and about 90 per cent of them were now doing “incredibly well”.
Some businesses, he said, were struggling to find enough staff to cope with the demand.
“The other 10 per cent of people were solely tied to international travel but we have been able to pivot and move them to getting ready for when the borders open.”
Holland said business since lockdown had “massively” increased but he admitted the level of the business bounceback surprised him.
“I think particularly in Tauranga we’ve got a bit of a unique bubble. We’re not so reliant on international tourism, we had quite a robust economy anyway and it’s growing as well.
“One of the reasons for the bounceback is the Kiwi innovation spirit. We’re certainly seeing a lot of that in the marketplace.”
He said the next few months were going to be interesting.
“There’s definitely some cash-flow issues arriving now,” he said. “The big issue in the new year is going to be supply of stock.
“But on the flipside, some are creating a bit of innovation as well.”
A total of 780 Bay businesses had registered for the second round of the Covid-19 Business Advisory Fund, which rolled out last year, and there was still $500,000 up for grabs.
About $2m has already been allocated to a variety of expert providers delivering business support to local businesses impacted by Covid-19 since August.
Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bryce Heard said he had not seen the number of mediumto-large businesses going under that seemed likely at the start of the pandemic.
“The Government’s support package has no doubt played a part in this, along with the business confidence levels that have pervaded, and strong consumer spending.”
However, he said he had seen some small-tomedium businesses closing down.
Heard said 2021 would present some new challenges, which would become clearer as the “new norm” takes shape during the next 12 to 24 months.
“The effect of the big public spend in 2020 will have positive carry-over into 2021, but it is difficult to forecast how long this will endure.
“Some industries will have a longer recovery and some have unexpectedly benefited already. There is not one hat-fits-all outcome in this, it is highly variable across different sectors.”
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive
Matt Cowley said the Government’s spending and “quantitative easing” had achieved its goal of supporting the economy through turbulent times.
“Many sectors have bounced back strongly, but the accommodation and tourism sectors are reliant on Kiwis travelling to other regions.
“Wewill always have good and bad economic cycles. The silver lining of bad economic cycles is that it sharpens business strategies and provides new opportunities for new and nimble businesses to take advantage of.”
Cowley said he had heard various companies reliant on international tourists had gone into hibernation while the borders were closed.
“We have also had members leave the Chamber as their local branch closes to focus back in their original region. Some other businesses have sold the businesses as Covid accelerated their exit strategy.”
Michelle Brittain’s Rotorua business took off in the Covid-19 lockdown.
Her 21⁄ -year-old business, Koa
2
Organics, sells handmade body products that use 100 per cent natural and certified organic ingredients.
When the country went into lockdown in March this year, Brittain registered as an essential business. Since then, her business has grown from strength to strength.
“It took off in that time,” she said. “Most of my products have a healing or calming effect. I think that really resonated with what we needed at that time. Plus everyone was at home and spending more time on their computers.”
Brittain said there became a lot more room for smaller retailers, like herself, in the marketplace.
“The reach became bigger and the audience became bigger.”
Despite a slight drop off once people returned to work, Brittain said business had returned to a traditional Christmas period turnover.
In November, Brittain celebrated a milestone with her 2000th website order marking two years since she started the business.
“It’s almost back to the levels it was in level 4 lockdown. It continues to grow.”
Business was so busy that Brittain was looking for new staff to help cope with the demand.
Her ideal candidates were a mother who could work part time while their children were at school and someone who could work weekends at the farmers markets she was struggling to attend because she was that busy.
The biggest challenge now, she said, was stock levels and shipping.
“We are completely at themercy of shipping at the moment. We’ve all been battling to get all the products we need.”
Brittain admitted she did not think the economy would bounce back as well as it did and encouraged people to keep spending locally.
“That will keep the economy going,” she said. “It’s even more crucial we continue to spend and travel within our own country.”
Meanwhile, Mount Classic Tours heard the call to pivot to the domestic market earlier this year and expanded its operations in the face of Covid-19.
The company bought Taurangabased domestic group travel business Hinterland Tours in July to move from its cruise ship shore excursion offering to more of a focus on domestic travel. Managing director Ian Holroyd said they have run four trips around New Zealand so far.