Victorian businesses have until tomorrow to to spend on ventilation improvements to be eligible for the state government $500 ventilation rebate.

I urge all Victorian small business retailers to consider this. A HEPA filter, for example, in-store makes it a safe space, and more appealing to shoppers concerned about safety.

Here is the link to the state government details on the program: https://business.vic.gov.au/grants-and-programs/small-business-ventilation-program/ventilation-rebate

Why is ventilation important?
Good ventilation is important because COVID-19 is airborne and primarily spread between people breathing in very small droplets or aerosols containing the virus. The risk of aerosol transmission is higher in a poorly ventilated space because fine aerosol spray from an infected person can remain circulating, linger and spread more easily.

The Victorian Government has released a Small Business Ventilation Guide to help businesses improve ventilation and reduce the spread of COVID-19 by encouraging air flow from outside. Business owners are encouraged to read this guide before applying.

Types of air ventilation and how they can be improved:

• Natural ventilation – brings air from outside through and around an indoor occupied space, or to make airflow improvements to a covered outdoor space used by customers
• Mechanical ventilation – uses mechanical equipment to increase airflow by replacing or diluting indoor air with outside air
• Augmented ventilation – uses portable filtration units to catch particles in a filter to increase the clean air delivery rate and reduce the concentration of viral particles in the air.

Business owners must use their judgement and make decisions that are appropriate for their business to improve ventilation and air quality. This may involve seeking professional advice before committing to a purchase.

We have had HEPA filters in our office since early 2021.

With Covid infections and deaths at concerning levels and new variants concerning doctors and scientists, anything we can do in people facing businesses makes sense. A HEPA filter or better ventilation are good moves in that they are passive – shoppers themselves are not required to do anything.

A colleague retailer recently experienced someone posting a negative review for their business based on an incident that had occurred more that a year prior.

The review was unfair given that it related to a customer complaining about the business following the public health mask guidelines at the time.

The reviewer used an email address that does not work and did not use their real name.

The review was clearly posted to harm the reputation of the newsagency, and done so anonymously.

I have seen plenty of local retail businesses unfairly attacked through Google reviews. It’s time Google provided a transparent process for managing them, to ensure fairness for all concerned.

In my own case I have had a couple of different people using fake names, and who were never customers, post negative reviews for my software company.

That Google allows anonymous reviews to be posted and does not engage in reasonable discussion as to the facts as claimed in a review damages the reputation of reviews overall. The company needs to provide checks and balances given the commercial harm that negative reviews can cause.

Local small business retailers are asked several times week by school parent groups and other local community groups and charities for donations. Here is one example I saw yesterday. I share it as it demonstrates what not to do. It’s lazy, ignorant and disrespectful. It’s one-way. While I’m sure they think acknowledging the business on advertising has value, it does not.

If I was speaking with this school parent group I’d tell them the one thing they could do to get engagement from local retailers:

Shop with them.

Yes, it’s that simple.

Now, this could work a couple of ways. Getting parents to shop with local retailers could be leveraged to get local retailers to donate to the parents group. Better still,  local retailers could set up a mutual loyalty program in their POS software. each purchase could reward the parents and the parent’s group. It’s easy to track this, to trade with local retailers to build a bank that is donated to the parent’s group.

Local retail businesses are only able to donate to community groups if they have the financial capacity. The only way they achieve that is when people;e spend money in their shops. This is why the starting point for any charity or community group putting their hand out to any business is to ask: What are we doing for them? What are we doing to enable them to donate to us? If the answer is nothing, then fix that first.

Big businesses say yes to donations as they budget for it and because they see it as easy marketing. They have a corporate umbrella cover bring them. A family owned local retail business is stand-alone. It relies on day to day trade. This is why any donation needs to be considered transactionally.

Local small business retailers could be on the front foot about this. They could setup a mutual loyalty program so it’s all set and ready to go, so next time a charity or community group puts out their hand they, instead, pitch the loyalty program that, if engaged with, could be more financially rewarding for the community group or charity.

Now, there may be some in the community groups or charities who say it’s too complex or challenge why they have to shop in a shop to get it to donate. If you hear that, it shows ignorance, and it demonstrates how little they actually value you.

I’d written about this topic before. It is frustrating seeing the ignorance displayed by some groups when they ask for donations. Their approach, like the example above, demonstrates a lack of understanding about how business works.

Here’s our approach to mitigating to Covid challenge in our shops:

• Screens at the counter. We have retained these as they offer protection for us and customers. There is zero customer push-back.
• Masks. We urge team members to wear masks when working.
• Sanitiser. Remains freely available in-store.
• Cleaning. Remains at peak Covid levels. All common touchpoint are cleaned on a regular cycle.
• Vaccination. All team members are asked to get vaccination boosters as soon as they are eligible.

This pandemic has a ways to go yet. The reported infection rate is high, meaning the real rate is much higher. Worse, the death rate is tragic.