How To Succeed In The Retail Industry

This is the third in a four part series that looks at four of Australia’s core industries – Mining Services, Transport, Retail and Manufacturing.

Retail is one of Australia’s more sensitive industry sectors, which is not surprising when you consider that sales are driven by consumer sentiment, interest rates, employment and disposable income.

As a result, retailers benefited from the highs of the economic boom during the early to mid 2000s, but they were also hit hard during the GFC with revenue contracting more than $1.3 billion (or 1%).

Post-GFC trading has been particularly volatile, with the government’s $10.4 billion stimulus package providing only short term benefits against continuing consumer uncertainty.

Anyone who regularly watches the news or reads the newspaper will be familiar with statistics such as CPI, employment, GDP, household expenditure, and the impact these have on our macro-economic environment.

But what about the micro-economy?

How To Succeed In The Road Freight Industry

This is the second of a four part series that looks at four of Australia’s core industries – Mining Services, Transport, Retail and Manufacturing.

It is generally accepted that the road transport sector is dominated by three companies – Toll Holdings, Linfox and Scott Corporation – and heavily influenced by the multi-national manufacturers and retailers that contract their services.

However, it is important to note that the success of these transport companies is under-pinned by the sub-contractors to which they outsource the majority of their work. Over 85% of the road transport sector is comprised of independent sub-contractors¹ or SMEs…

Vantage Team Joins the Army of Queensland Flood Clean-up Volunteers

The Vantage Group team was more than keen to join the gumboot-clad army of more than 7,000 volunteers in the flood clean-up effort.

Armed with shovels, mops, brooms and plenty of enthusiasm we descended on the hard hit Rocklea Markets, South East Queensland’s main source of fruit, vegetables and produce…

How To Succeed In The Mining Services Industry

This is the first of a four part series that looks at Australia’s core industries – Mining Services, Transport, Retail and Manufacturing.

We all know that the next few months will be “difficult” for most businesses, but what will the impact be on Australia’s core industries, and what can SMEs in these industries do to strengthen their position?

In this blog I’m going to focus on the Mining Services industry. I’ve worked with both resources “giants” and the smaller businesses that support them, and the drive and tenacity of those smaller businesses is commendable to say the least.

Europe’s Banking Sector Woes Will Make It Tough For Aussie SMEs

The European banking sector is still a long way from economic recovery, and this is going to have a major impact on Australian SMEs. This blog will highlight how owners and managers can prepare their businesses for the tough times ahead. Recent commentary surrounding Europe’s economic stability has focused heavily on the Committee of European [...]

How SMEs Can Optimize Cashflow

Cash flow forecasting isn’t just an annual process in the same way a puppy isn’t just for Christmas. Strange analogy?  Not really.  If you want to manage the behavior of a puppy – as opposed to adjusting your own behavior to accommodate its natural tendencies – you need to train your puppy and then continually [...]

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