Your Business: Handling the holidays with Greg Harford, Retail NZ

Greg Harford, general manager of public affairs for Retail NZ.

Greg Harford is general manager of public affairs for Retail NZ, the New Zealand retailers’ association.

Christmas and the holiday season is a busy time for a lot of businesses, but particularly in the retail sector. What are some of the main issues you see retailers facing over this time?

Christmas is a really important time of year for all New Zealanders, and it's also a busy and challenging time for retailers. A key issue for retailers is to make sure that stock is available in good time and at the right price to meet consumer demand.

It's also really important for retailers to make sure that they have people available to meet the Christmas rush and generally they plan early to hire and train the people they need. It takes some careful management of rosters to let employees take time off for holidays while making sure a store can still open and provide good service to customers.

Special rules apply for employees working on public holidays, so employers need to make sure they're complying with legal requirements. Retailers are also being careful with security to keep their people and their stock safe from shoplifters.

What are some of the plans or strategies small business owners need to put in place to address these sorts of things and make sure everything runs smoothly over this time?

Most retailers are well planned for the whole year, and the same applies at Christmas time. The focus for retailers is very much on making sure they have the right stock in place, as well as the right people with the right training, and a good promotions and advertising strategy prepared and ready to roll out. And they need to be ready to change direction quickly if something unexpected happens, like a promotion by a competitor, a stock shortage or employee illness.

What are some of the critical factors that business owners need to think about when taking on extra holiday staff?

It's really important for retailers to make sure they're complying with the Employment Relations Act, and that all employees, including casual holiday employees have proper employment contracts. It's also worth planning to make sure casual employees are trained in customer service and in business processes.

What are some of the trends being seen in terms of Christmas retailing?

Christmas is a really competitive time of year for retailers, and many have had Christmas promotions in place for a while now. This year, we're seeing a continuation of early special offers and discounting, as retailers try to win customers. Anecdotally, we hear of people doing their Christmas shopping at almost any time of the year, and there are lots of reasons for this. Some buy early to post overseas, while others are taking advantage of early sales.

What would be your main advice in terms of planning to handle Christmas and the holidays?

Our main advice is for retailers to work with their suppliers to reserve the stock they want for Christmas trading and to have it delivered on time and, most importantly, to work with their staff to get rosters and holidays sorted out early to make sure you have the staff you need in place on the busy days.

Coming up in Your Business: What are some of the clever strategies small businesses have come up with to get maximum bang for a miniscule marketing buck? If you've got a good story to tell about how you've marketed your business on a shoestring, get in touch: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com

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