Page 29 - Toy & Hobby Dec-Jan 2020
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happens both at the international fairs and digitally all year round. Introducing new products doesn’t specifically change the way we do business, but it does allow us to provide more variety and can give us the chance to work with new customers.
Kerrie: As we all know the retail platform has changed dramatically. Consumers shop in a different way now than they did three years ago. Online presence and social media are now essential. This means less time in shops for me and more time in the office taking care of the tech side of things. After floundering around for a couple of years with a mixture of casual staff, I have finally put full time managers into the shops this year, which has created a much smoother operation, but increased costs.
Claire and Steve: We have focussed a lot of our efforts on streamlining all parts of the Johnco business. By dramatically reducing the number of steps required to complete a process, we can invest further time and effort into providing a higher quality customer experience and product offering.
Nick: Most of our changes have been growth related and how you balance those costs while keeping up with and maintaining the growth.
Imogen: What technology have you implemented in your businesses in the last three years? What were the reasons for introducing this technology and how has it changed the business?
Nick: Our entire business is cloud-based and fully mobile so as long as we have an Internet connection we can work from just about anywhere. That flexibility is a must for us and gives our staff the ability to work flexible hours as well.
Claire and Steve: The main technology initiatives we have introduced include; a cloud- based inventory and accounting system; new fully functional website; and, updated ordering system for our sales force. We introduced these changes to add to customer experience and business efficiency. By offering systems which; provide relevant up to date information; are easy to use; and, can be accessed from almost anywhere, we believe we are providing our customers, staff and sales force with both flexibility and confidence that information is correct and up to date. These changes have positively impacted the business with outcomes such as; faster turnaround times for customer orders; speed to market with new product initiatives; improved data accuracy; and, flexible working arrangements for staff.
Sue: We have become much more involved
in social media during the past three years, including adding Instagram and building out the use of influencers/bloggers. We have been
“We’ve used Skype for years, but the wider adoption of WhatsApp has enabled us to easily stay in touch with international suppliers.
fortunate in working with one supplier who researches and regularly engages with online influencers, which has been a great asset to
us. Increasingly suppliers, retailers and end consumers are all using social media to engage with each other and identify products, so we think it’s important to join this conversation. Additionally, while the results from social media are not always immediately measurable, most online channels do provide metrics which are incredibly helpful for our future planning. Technology has also helped us to maintain a more regular dialogue with suppliers. We’ve used Skype for years, but the wider adoption of WhatsApp has enabled us to more easily stay in touch with international suppliers.
Kerrie: We invested in a shopfront website in 2017. Until then we had a static website, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that this was not going to fulfil the needs of our existing customers and it was certainly not going to introduce us to the wider customer base of Australia. We have discovered a twofold effect from the introduction of the website. Firstly, our customer base is now Australia-wide and secondly, we find now that many of our local customers will come into the store having already ‘shopped’ the website and many of them already know what they are going to purchase before they walk in.
Imogen: What wider industry/governmental changes have impacted your business?
Sue: For a small business, the biggest
changes have been the introduction of Superstream and Single Touch Payroll (STP). Both required a fair amount of research
and STP also required the upgrading of equipment to support the accounting system upgrade. Fortunately, we had both systems up and running before the due dates! Both systems actually require more time to submit than what was previously in place, however we acknowledge the need for these changes. Also, changes to standards within the industry are ongoing and we are grateful
for the work the Australian Toy Association does in keeping members informed of
these changes.
Kerrie: I was very happy running my payroll system on an excel spreadsheet that I designed 12 years ago and I was pretty unhappy having to adopt a payroll software package and link myself to the ATO. When I think of industry changes – where do you start? Some global and local players have left the arena, the online stuff continues to gain momentum, bricks-and-mortar stores face increasing
rents and wages. How do we overcome these changes? We get on with what we can control!
Nick: Most of [the changes] are business admin changes around payroll, super and awards. We all get the emails and phone calls from our
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