Issue 33/2011

No surprises, in Deloitte Access Economics' latest retail forecast released on Tuesday, advising the Retail sector could go from bad to worse!.    Deloitte's David Rumbens said 2010-11 proved to be a disastrous year for retail with real retail sales growing by just 1.3%, the worst result for 20 years.    

After reading this yesterday, I attended the Sydney public hearing for the Productivity Commission Enquiry into retail, and came away with the feeling that no help can be expected from this enquiry any time soon.There were some interesting points raised with PMA comments in italics.

1) The Commission agrees 'in principle" that GST should be applied to all imports, to levels perhaps similar to Canada ($20).Good.We are making progress at last!  

2) The Commission feels that even when this tax level is adjusted, that the price difference on the majority of products will still be substantial.Their opinion is that exporters of products to Australia need to review their regional export pricing policies to ensure their local distributors/retailers are competitive.The internet has exposed major anomalies, within many sectors, in global pricing policies.That single issue would greatly ease the problem.PR  

3) It was accepted that Australian costs of doing business worked against retail (eg hourly rate in USA $7PH verses Australia$17PH) and It was felt that up to 40% of retailers in Australia could be "trade exposed" (read... change or close) if current on line sales trends continue.None of us like to hear that 40% of our industry might be "at risk" unless serious changes are made.And this opinion comes from a body who have been examining Australian Retail from all aspects for over 6 months.The question is ..has our industry been through the worst of this, as we started suffering from Internet trading far earlier than most other categories? PR 

4) The Commission likened retail, to the woes of the manufacturing industry ie If you cannot compete, the Govt will not act to artificially "prop up" an industry.We all know the reverse is currently the case.Why should one class of retailer have an advantage over another.Tax equity needs to be established quickly.PR 

5) Penalty rates were seriously working against small business.

6) Various individuals (including John Swainston,who did an excellent job in his presentation) emphasised the need for Govt to act quickly when final recommendations are made.    To delay will certainly see more small business's giving up.

A very sobering afternoon!    

Cheers

Peter Rose

Your PMA Australia Executive

 National Chairperson-Richard Robertson
richardr@teds.com.au

DIMA International President

Phil Gresham

philip@fotofast.com.au

Eastern Region TVP

and NSW Chairperson

John Ralph

jrcamerahouse@bigpond.com

WA, SA, NT, QLD TVP

and QLD Chairperson

Andrew Mason 

print@photocontinental.com.au

 TAS Chairperson

Tim Jones

 tim@perfectprints.com.au

VIC Chairperson

Jeff Crowley

jeff.crowley@fujifilm.com.au

SA Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

WA Chairperson

Murray Gibbs

murray@ggch.com.au

Director of Australian Activities

Peter Rose

prose@pmai.org

Australian Directors for PMA

John Paxton

jpaxton@paxtons.com.au 

Len Sandler

len.sandler@starshots.com.au

PPFA Chairperson

Ormond Williams

osgood@bigpond.net.au

APCI Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

PSPA Chairperson

Paul Dawson

pd@hydrophotographics.com.au

PIEA Chairperson

Gale Spring

g.spring@rmit.edu.au

PMA Australia Office

02 9454 2444

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Editor

Glynn Lavender

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

 If you have considered adding education to your business to add a new revenue stream and build community then you cannot afford to miss this free webinar.

Learn from two of PMA's most respected store owners who have made education a key part of their businesses.

It means logging in at 2.00AM but it will be worth the effort!

This FREE webinar details how you can offer photo-related classes to improve customer loyalty and generate new revenue in several different ways.

If you sell prints, photo products, or photographic equipment, this promises to be an enlightening session. It's a great opportunity for photographers, too.

Our speakers will be Mark Comon from Paul's Photo in Torrance, CA and Mike Woodland from Dan's Camera City in Allentown, PA. Both have successfully used photo classes to build business.

They will share practical, proven techniques for getting started, developing a curriculum, and marketing your classes.

In addition, Chad Munce of PMA will reveal a valuable new offer: ready-to-deploy classes you can use in your store. Regularly $799, these classes are free to new and renewing PMA members. Join us for details!

On Friday 2nd September, PMA Australia joined a small group of retail representatives in a workplace meeting to discuss the concerns of retailers in their implementation of the Fair Work Australia Employment Relations policies and Modern Awards. The meeting was organised by the ARA for the purpose of gathering information from retail groups in order to prepare an online retail survey which will be sent out to retailers later this year. The ARA will take the results of the survey to the Government so that key issues may be addressed when the Govt reviews the Fair Work Award and legislation in January 2012 (two years since introduction of the Modern Awards and Fair Work in Jan 2010).

Attending the meeting was Russell Zimmerman, Nick Tindley and Heath Michael from the ARA, David Gregory from the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industries and Josh Manuatu from the Office of Senator Eric Abetz, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Representatives of the retail sector included human resource managers from Lowes-Manhattan P/L, Bras 'N Things, Seven Eleven, Costco , The Athletes Foot and PMA.

Concerns raised by the retail businesses included wage rates, minimum wage case, penalty rates, 3 hour minimum pay rates & training, unfair dismissal and the role of the Ombudsman in solving disputes. The ARA survey hopes to determine what Retailers would like to see as an achievable Employment Relations model, and it is important for all Retailers to have their say. PMA will continue to work with the ARA and will distribute the survey to Retail/Members when it becomes available.

 PMA TV is offering an exclusive 55-minute video featuring Paul Rentz, video consultant to IPIand former operator of Rush Hour Photo, on the topic "All you need to profit from video services Part 1." Filmed at the PMA Dixie Division annual meeting in Aiken, S.C., Rentz included everything from traditional video transfer to making playable DVDs from the Flip cameras.

Rentz has been doing video transfers for nearly 20 years, starting by simply providing a service to duplicate tapes. Next, he discovered how to use Panasonic's DMR hard drive recorders to easily provide edited DVDs of video tapes for customers. Now he's expanding into the myriad of other services that customers request in terms of video services - slide shows, moving camera video to DVD, providing files from video tape, downloading and uploading files to YouTube, transferring PAL to NTSC or SECAM (international video transfers), bulk scanning and more.