Confidence Tricks!

RCG has worked in the Retail sector for over 28 years now. Corporates / chains and SMES / Independents have very different cultures and attitudes. Retail, and I suspect other SMEs can’t be ignored without consequences.

It’s a fact that around 90% of Retail / F + B (Food and Beverage) enterprises employ less than 20 people (that makes them an SME). These Owners take on the everyday risks of business to make an independent living, create jobs and make street fronts and town centres vibrant, all without the support of a head office in property, Finance, HR and so on. They know they are exposed to new Government regulations.

That’s why the 90-day employment trial is so sensitive to them. It’s another major risk, and a cost, for them to cope with.
And there’s another statistical fact that it doesn’t help this predicament. SMEs employ less than 25% of the total workers involved in this sector. The corporates are the biggest employers, they get the Government’s attention.

For a Government that is sensitive to union views, big employers line up better with unions. Most SME owners instinctively understand this, and that’s part of why their confidence is low.

It appears you can’t trust the politicians to really care about the viewpoint of smaller businesses. If the SME contribution isn’t better valued then confidence isn’t going to improve. Yet another relevant statistic is the private sector money invested in Retail and F+B assets. RCG estimates this at $32B. We haven’t calculated the annual reinvestment but it will be significant (new shop fitouts, stock, I.T, uniforms, property development…). If confidence remains flat then reinvestment decisions will be much slower as owners sit on their wallets and muddle through until some trust in the Government’s leadership is earned. Do I need to spell out the consequences for the community?