The Sunday Herald Sun today carries a column by Terry McCrann, Bleakest of views from the shopfronts, in which talks down retail off the back of some poor numbers from Woolworths and JB HiFi. McCrann’s column is ignorant. It lacks attributable facts.
Okay, some sectors of retail are doing it tough. Some geographic areas too. Plus there are differences between high street and regional. But there are plenty of retailers growing. McCrann ignore this. Maybe because it does not fit his style.
McCrann also makes them mistake of politicians and many media outlets – despite knowing that small business retail is the backbone of retail in this country he relies on big business experiences to support his opinions.
A smarter column from McCrann would have sought to understand the differences between the business which are growing and those which are not. It could be that there are decisions retailers can make to trade more successfully in the circumstances in which we find ourselves today. That’s what I think … that there are decisions we can take to improve our own situation.
Hi Mark,
What I think you have to remember about commentators like Terry McCrann is they are part of the old guard who, along with Gerry Harvey, grew up in an era of easing credit and resultant high consumer spending growth.
That era’s over and the Terry McCrann’s of the world don’t understand this and that is going to be reflected in his writings.
What we also have to understand when we read McCrann’s work and that of his News Ltd, Fairfax and commercial TV colleagues is that this is Big Media talking about Big Business and Big Government, “small” has no role in the conversation.
Terry’s writing is helpful for understanding what’s going on at the big end of town but it may, or may not, be relevant to the realities outside the comfortable board rooms of Martin Place, Collins Street or Commonwealth Avenue.
Cheers,
Paul Wallbank
Hi
I’ve also written a response on my blog. http://sociallibecorat.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/terry-mccrann-retail-is-changing-its.html
McCrann hasn’t actually got the facts right about the big end of town either. Retail is definitely changing, but it’s certainly not dead.
Let me know what you think.
Mark S
Mark I don’t believe Terry implied that retail is dead or dying.
I think his statement that retail is “in trouble like its never been before” would be pretty accurate.
Coming off the biggest credit binge of all time, the oversupply of retail outlets is being and will continue to be tested in the coming months and years.
I don’t think you have applied the same rigorous judgement to the many articles in the AGE implying similar difficulties in both retail and housing.
Peter
Your point about some of the articles in The Age is valid (and occasionally the ABC, but less so).
However, to say that retail is in trouble “like never before” is a huge exaggeration. Westfield’s recently results certainly exceeded expectations, and retail sales are still growing – we are not in a retail recession, and as recently as 2005 retail growth was as little as the last year.
You may disagree, but I’ve written another blog about how this pain is good for us http://sociallibecorat.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/little-economic-pain-now-is-perfect.html