The Board of Wangaratta has taken the initiative to understand the climate of local business conditions and to help identify any areas that need to assisted to ensure a healthy and vibrant business community.

If your business is located within the shire of the Rural City of Wangaratta and you would like to participate, please complete our Survey located within the Business Documents section of our Downloads page.

EXTENDED TO THE END OF MAY 2012 - SUBMIT YOUR SURVEY TODAY!

The Awards this year were extremely successful over 300 people attending the dinner for the announcement of the winners.

Guest EmCee Graeme Alford was inspirational with his anecdotes for all businesses and the fantastic organisation of Nolan Media & Events really set the night off.

Here are the winners for the 2011 Business Awards for Excellence:

Here are the results for the 2011 Barista Championships held during the Wangaratta Jazz & Blues Festival on Sunday 29th October:

1st Place - Libby Caramia of Switch Cafe & Bar

2nd Place - Maggie Richards of North East Health Wangaratta Cafeteria

3rd Place - Damien Primerano of Primerano's Cafe

Sherran Tilson, Anissa Kay, Libby Caramia, Maggie Richards, Damien Primerano, Richard Bradbury, Arch Giotoplous

We thank all of the sponsors for their generous contributions in support of the 2011 Championship:

Grinders Coffee

GO TAFE Wangaratta

Dinnings Dairy

Wangaratta Trophies & Engaving

We also thank our judges on the day:

Arch Giotopolous (Technical Judge)

Anissa Kay (Sensory Judge)

Sherran Tilson (Sensory Judge)

Elections were held on Monday 10th October 2011 for positions within the Board of Business Wangaratta.

Elected members to the Executive are:

Welcomed aboard were new members John Houghton, Graham Ulbrick & Michael Holmes. We also welcomed back Peter Vaughan who has been seconded to fill the vacant Board position after the 66th Annual General Meeting held in September.

We have a full and vibrant board who already have quite a few projects to undertake and look forward to a prosperous year for all businesses operating within the Rural City of Wangaratta.

2011 Business Awards for Excellence

Entries in for the 2011 Business Awards for Excellence are now CLOSED.

While you may have missed out on the opportunity to promote your business and be recognised for what you do this year, why not consider coming along to the Awards night on November 10 and enjoy a great night of networking along with great entertainment and food. We would love to see you there!

We have 12 Categories in 2011 - including a People's Choice Award - get your Peoples Choice Nomination Form HERE

Categories in 2011 include:

• 2011 Retail Business of the Year
• 2011 Hospitality Business of the Year
• 2011 Manufacturing Business of the Year
• 2011 Trade & Trade Services Business of the Year
• 2011 Tourism & Leisure Business of the Year
• 2011 Personal Care & Health Business of the Year
• 2011 Commercial & Technology Services Business of the Year
• 2011 New Business of the Year
• 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year
• 2011 Workforce Development Award
• 2011 Environmental & Sustainable Business Practice Award
• 2011 People’s Choice Award

See our Business Awards page for more details on each category.

Membership of Business Wangaratta has many benefits and joining is easy.

Just download the application form (pdf format), fill it in and send it to us.

Details of the benefits of membership can be accessed here.

NOTE: If you are looking for payment details please download our membership form which has all of the relevant banking details - Thank you.

Business Wangaratta and VECCI have recently engaged in the The Chamber Alliance Program. We are one of the first Chambers in Victoria to be offered this opportunity and one where all of our members will benifit from the Alliance.

The Chamber Alliance Program is a unique partnership between VECCI and local chambers of commerce and business development groups. The program is designed to help achieve the best outcomes for business in Victoria.

The Chamber Alliance Program is a non-competitive, cooperative and cost-free partnership, which will strengthen the relationships between VECCI and local chambers of commerce and create a strong, united voice to benefit Victorian business at every level.

For full details on how the Alliance will benifit your business and Business Wangaratta you can download the information here.

You already know training is important to your business. But you want the right training, tailored to your particular needs and you don’t want to spend all your time looking for it.

The government has made significant changes to the Victorian training system to make it easier for you to get the training you want for your business.

And, because training is important to your business and the Victorian economy, the government will contribute on average around 70-90 per cent of the fees for eligible employees. It’s all part of the Victorian Training Guarantee.

Download the brochure which supplies answers to questions and topics like:

• Who’s eligible for a government subsidised training place?
• Where can my staff train?
• Do all training providers deliver government subsidised training?
• How much funding will the government provide under the Victorian Training Guarantee?
• How is the subsidy paid?
• What does the subsidy cover?
• What if a course offered by a training provider isn’t right for my business?
• My employees already have skills. I don’t want to waste time and money on training that duplicates things they already know.
• How can I find the right course for my staff?
• Who can help me get started?
• Skills for Growth

For more information contact the Goulburn Ovens TAFE in your nearest major town.

Yes, you are reading that headline correctly.

Despite what you have read ad infinitum about the lot of the poor old traditional bricks and mortar retailer, they in fact have a head start on their online competitors that most entrepreneurs would die for.

Because in their haste to defend the patches they’ve dominated for so long, traditional retailers are forgetting that they already possess the vast bulk of the retail assets that their online competitors have to build or invest in from scratch.

As we’ve pointed out in these pages before, traditional retailers already possess about 90% of the requirements to set up a successful online operation with the remaining 10% being made up of online infrastructure and some web operations and marketing skills.

Let’s take a look at the bits they already possess.

Australia's population can be divided into two distinct "tribes" based on their consumption habits, according to a new report, highlighting opportunities for start-ups to appeal to a particular demographic.

A new lifestyle trends survey by KPMG Australia, in collaboration with online community Nine Rewards, is based on the responses of 2,013 Australians.

In order to ascertain the nation's latest lifestyle trends, questions covered a range of topics including demography, confidence in the future, lifestyle, behaviour and the use of technology.

Retailers to be surveyed as internet sales hit local traders

STEVE KELLY - Wangaratta Chronicle 05/08/2011

BUSINESS Wangaratta plans to introduce ways to help retail outlets combat a growing customer shift towards internet shopping.

Wangaratta has not been insulated from a national decline in retail trade, which fell 0.1 per cent in June, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Business Wangaratta president David Lowe said the "internet is hitting us" and they will distribute surveys to see how the organisation can help.

"There has been a shift towards internet shopping and some outlets might need to move with this trend and today's market change," he said.

"We need to find out what businesses want in terms of support and a survey will give them the option to respond anonymously."

Mr Lowe said businesses that get online can put their products out to a much wider audience.

He said winter was generally a quieter time for retail sales, but with events like the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz coming up spending should lift.

Reid Street jeweller David Roberts saw the beginning of a decline in turnover in mid 2010.

It's a drop in sales he likens to the early 1990s when his business saw a decline that lasted five years.

Mr Roberts said the reasons were low consumer confidence and the online market attracting more sales with the high Australian dollar.

He said there had been a jump in customers bringing jewellery into his shop needing repair or alterations, after buying the items online.

"People are holding onto their money more, as they're waiting to see what interest rates will do and how the economy overseas will further affect the Australian market," Mr Roberts said.

"I don't see any short term improvement if the economy follows the same path as the recession years, which I think it will."

But on a brighter note, the high Australian dollar has had the opposite effect on travel, with Wangaratta's Harvey World Travel agency seeing the most activity in years.

Agency senior consultant, Amanda Coote, has worked there for three years and said it's "been the busiest by far".

"Sales are up about 30 per cent with clients either wanting a quick get away to escape the cold weather or longer trips overseas to make the most of the high Australian dollar," she said.

"Clients have been booking on average four week trips to Canada, Alaska, Europe and Hawaii for 2012, or one week trips to Broom, Queensland and Fiji."

Author: Paul Wallbank
Published on-line by www.smartcompany.com.au

At the release of a report into technological change and the accounting profession a few weeks ago, Melbourne University's Professor Colin Ferguson said "I could see as many as 25% of companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) disappearing in the next decade because of the proposed National Broadband Network (NBN) roll out and other rapid technological change."

Professor Ferguson could be optimistic. The internet today is where the automobile, telephone and mains electricity were 80 years ago — all were established technologies that had been around for awhile, but the society-wide benefits only began to be felt in the 1930s.