Management

This month Bartercard NZ turns 30.  Founded in 1991 on the Australian Gold Coast, Bartercard is the world’s largest trade exchange and New Zealand’s leading business trading currency, attracting new customers and increasing sales.  The concept allows businesses to exchange goods and services without using cash; instead, they use trade dollars.  Bartercard started in New Zealand in 1992 and has over 10,000 cardholders, with 50 staff across 12 regional offices .    bRewards was introduced in late 2019 as a way for members to refer new businesses to the Bartercard ecosystem and earn valuable bPoints, which can be exchanged for everyday spend gift cards, including grocery and petrol vouchers.  Since its launch, some members have been rewarded hundreds of dollars

Andrew Fairgray believes there are lessons to be learnt from New Zealand’s most successful businesses for organisations of all sizes that want to thrive within the current tumultuous landscape. The past few years have been unlike any before for business leaders. Having weathered more than two years of pandemic-related disruptions remarkably well, business leaders are now facing a whole new set of challenges – staff-related issues are compounding with rapidly rising costs to create a new kind of turbulence. The latest Shaping Business Study at 2degrees paints a picture of the state of play for Kiwi businesses, and it’s a mixed bag: large businesses with more than 50 employees are largely feeling optimistic and anticipating revenue growth, while the picture

The shortage in hospitality staff may be more a symptom of unwillingness to work in a sector suffering unprecedented levels of rude and intolerant customers. Former bar owner and now personal transformation strategist and CEO of Genius You, Simone-Ellen Keller (pictured below), said it is unlikely that unfavourable working conditions like low pay, demanding working conditions, and even a drop in immigration, are solely to blame for growing staff shortages in the hospitality sector because those conditions have always existed and did not deter people in the past. “Hospitality staff shortages is a global issue and even countries that pay well or don’t rely on immigrants are struggling. In my experience, people who work in hospitality are often gregarious and

Commercial law specialist and author Joanna Oakey shares three ways to lock value into your business. Every business faces unexpected landmines that threaten to erode the value in a business. A strongly fortified business is the best way to protect the assets you have built. Laying the right foundations will lock in and maximise the value you will be able to extract. To lock this value in, you must identify that value and protect it. Here are some areas to consider: Customer base and business relationships The customer base drives revenue – it is the most common area of key value. The value of the customer base is intertwined with branding, key staff, technology and location, and it can vary

Julian So reflects on three key customer service mistakes he’s made, and the lessons he learned from them. As a business owner, I always strive to provide quality customer service. I am always grateful for the positive feedback from customers telling our team that they enjoy working with us because they can see the value we offer them as their trusted advisor. We know our stuff, communicate regularly and deliver on what we promise – on time.  But I haven’t always got it right, having made mistakes and a few ‘stuff-ups’ along the way. Every business loses clients and customers. Over the past four years, I have had three customers decide not to continue our business relationship due to a

From supply chain issues to chronic labour shortages and the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand small businesses have had a tough run with so much disruption in recent years.   And now it seems the NZ small business sector, which generates more than 28% of GDP and employs more than 630,000 New Zealanders, will have to have to deal with customers tightening their purse strings as consumer confidence falls to its lowest reading ever recorded.    Where a score above 100 shows more optimism, the Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index plummeted year-on-year from 107.1 to 78.7 points in July.   With the growing pessimism around the economic landscape, conditions are shifting for business owners across the country.   “New Zealand small businesses are at