Page 25 - HW May-June 2020

nz made
“With everybody in the mindset of change and discontinuity, I think now is also therefore the best opportunity to make changes”
manufacturers.”
In other words, Ryan Jennings believes Kiwis’ good intentions
during lockdown have turned (and will continue to turn) into actions.
Indeed, he says, this assertion is being backed up not just by a surge in interest from potential licensees in Buy NZ Made but also from consumers visiting and using the program’s new e-commerce platform for small Kiwi producers (https:// shopkiwi.online/ – see page 24 for more on this initiative).
NZ MADE YES – BUT NOT AT ANY PRICE
Other evidence to support Kiwi interest in being and buying locally produced goods comes from Rutherford Labs, whose COVID-19 Love Local Survey (www.rutherford.net.nz) tracked an increase in interest on social media about local and ethical businesses, before and during lockdown.
Says Rutherford Labs: “Recent research has shown that
New Zealanders are experiencing a new sense of national
pride stemming from the success of our COVID-19 response measures and many are pledging their support for New Zealand businesses in the future.”
e COVID-19 Love Local Survey agrees with these ndings, albeit with an important caveat – that “price is still king”.
On top of which, says the Rutherford Labs survey, being NZ owned is currently a more important business attribute than being NZ made when it comes to brand/product selection:
1. Price competitiveness.
2. NZ owned.
3. Made in NZ.
4. Recyclable.
5. No nasty ingredients/chemicals.
For a trades and construction products perspective, I
refer to Rider Levett Bucknall’s NZ Construction Market
& Escalation Forecast April 2020 Update (available here: https://bit.ly/36G4HHg), which asserts that a buy local approach here and in Australia, aiming to “de-risk short term global supply chain risk and boost the local economy”, thanks to exchange rates, may actually lead to short-term material price increases and shortages.
In this high risk and low margin environment, will builders switch to buying local?
NZ MADE REALLY A “MUST HAVE”?
In the light of these caveats, I ask Prof Elms whether he thinks the broad “buy local” movement may be more wishful thinking than something that consumers will actually follow through on once they’re able to shop freely again?
From a consumer perspective, still in Level 3 when we
spoke, he says: “I think personally, at the moment, everybody’s obviously quite emotional and I think they are trying to celebrate as much local, Kiwi-made, as they possibly can.”
Looking further out, he says: “People are going to be looking a lot more for sustainable products, localised products, whatever that means – it might be national, it might be regional – as well as at businesses that have a bit more of a local or a regional face.”
Buy local, yes, but not at any cost, he quali es: “I think people will probably be more demanding of what’s local,” he says, adding: “I think people will still want the option and the availability of international brands, products and services, but I think there’s liable to be waves of more local community type representations that consumers are going to be more and more interested in.”
Believing your own hype...
What do suppliers make of all this? Kaiapoi manufacturer of Evacut cutting tools, Sutton Tools, is a strong advocate of the Buy NZ Made program and Sales Manager, Nigel Lee, is convinced that being New Zealand made is a keystone of the company’s efforts.
On top of general issues of inconsistent supply, he says the pandemic “really hurt the economy and we need to get NZ up and running. What better way to do that than support companies that actually manufacture in NZ?”
Realistically, does Nigel Lee think stores, buyers and the category managers will buy into that? “Yes and no. We make high quality drill bits, a Mercedes/Rolls-Royce type of product at a fair price. But, you know, there’s other brands out there, a lot cheaper...
“No matter whether it’s NZ made, some people will always go for the lower price. So, look, I think we will sell more NZ made drill sets coming out this period, but also a lot of people have been hurt by this and they’ve got less budget.”
Having said this, Nigel Lee however remains “quietly con dent that there’s a lot of Kiwis out there who are going to support us even more.
“They may have found, for the rst time ever, that they couldn’t get scrappy Chinese product so they’re going to buy NZ made.
“So I think I think, ultimately, yes, we do believe our own hype. And we think, you know, by pushing NZ made even more, we will get more sales.”
Check out Sutton Tools’ new catalogue by the way – it’s available online.
www.suttontools.co.nz
MORE AT www.facebook.com/nzhardwarejournal
MAY/JUNE 2020 | NZHJ 23