BATHURST Business Chamber president Angus Edwards has no hesitation in nominating the biggest challenge that faced the city’s business sector in 2018: the drought.
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“It was initially just affecting the agricultural sector, but it was predicted to affect business generally, and unfortunately those predictions came to fruition,” Mr Edwards said when asked by the Advocate to cast his eyes over the past 12 months in business.
“If you had to sum up 2018, that's been the major challenge.”
Bathurst finished more than 120 millimetres down on its average annual rainfall in 2018 in a year that Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard said was the city’s second-hottest (after 2009) on record.
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The second major challenge for the business sector was caused by the instability in Canberra and the pending state and federal elections.
”That's created some uncertainty as well, which is a bit of a destabilising force,” Mr Edwards said.
And the third major challenge? The rise and rise of online business.
“And I think a lot of businesses are meeting that challenge,” Mr Edwards said.
“The opportunity that technology brings to regional communities to do business all around the country, all around the world, is great.
“But it's not all about online. It's having an online presence, but also making sure that you are offering what online can't.”
For Bathurst businesses, that includes offering the best possible service and emphasising the immediacy of the buying experience in a physical shop, according to Mr Edwards.
Over the next 12 months, he said the chamber would be supporting businesses through training events and seminars focusing on technology, disruption and helping businesses make the most of online opportunities.
Amid the various challenges for the Bathurst business sector, Mr Edwards said a positive in 2018 was the way the Keep It Local Bathurst campaign was received.
The campaign, launched in September, asked businesses to make a commitment to source their resources locally, where possible, before going elsewhere.
The campaign came after a survey conducted by the chamber found 72 per cent of businesses said that they could source more than half of their resources locally, but only 46 per cent of those businesses actively did so.
Mr Edwards said he was pleased with the campaign.
“People are aware of where they spend their money,” he said.
