Page 27 - HW May-June 2020

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“I think big retailers are going to be forced into it – consumers are going to be looking for where products are from, where they’re sourced, from beginning to end.
“And it’s not just where products are sourced. ey’ll really want transparency, literally down to which forest the timber is from, where in the world the forest is and how the local community looks after the forest?
“So I think as there are opportunities and the DIY/homecare/ houseware sectors are probably going to do well out of this, particularly in the medium term.
“Short term, however, I think there’s going to be quite a lot of pain before we see some real positive outcomes.”
And, as Kiwi retailers think through what their next operating
“We’ve seen those kinds of origin stories becoming important in the food sector over the last couple of years and now I think it’s also going to be mirrored in other sectors.
“I think that the retailers and businesses that
are the most transparent and the most open about how they’re doing business are going to do the best out of this.”
NOW IS A GOOD TIME...
On top of accentuating the local, what are Prof Elms’ tips for the top in these times? “I think the sustainability agenda is going to be up there.
“I think consumers are thinking through not buying new, but xing and mending. And I think that will be quite considerable for the DIY sector and the sectors that feed into it.
“At the moment, everybody’s obviously quite emotional and are trying to celebrate as much local, Kiwi-made, as they possibly can”
model is going to look like, Jonathan Elms o ers that they could do worse than let their customers in on some of what’s going through their minds.
“I think there’s a great opportunity for particularly domestic retailers to celebrate, signal, signify that what they’re doing behind the scenes is probably as important to consumers as what they actually see in face to face interactions.
“If companies can celebrate that, I think they’ll be on to a bit of a winner, particularly for the medium term.”
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MAY/JUNE 2020 | NZHJ 25