A survey of Whangaparaoa businesses, which received 240 responses, suggests that the majority are in favour of the idea of forming a new business association.
The survey, which took place in May, was commissioned by the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board from Buzz Channel at a cost of $23,000. It was presented at a local board workshop in June and made public this month.
The aim was to provide “baseline information for discussions relating to forming a business association”. It also provided a database of businesses for Council.
A total of 61 percent of those surveyed said they would be potentially interested in joining a new business association or network in Whangaparaoa, 20 percent were neutral about the idea and 16 percent were not interested.
Among the priorities that were suggested would improve business in Whangaparaoa were access onto the peninsula and better promotion.
More than a third of those surveyed felt Whangaparaoa was getting better as a place to do business (39 percent), 33 percent said it was staying the same and close to a quarter (22 percent) felt it was getting worse (5 percent said ‘don’t know).
Key concerns were to do with competition in and around Whangaparaoa, especially from Silverdale and Albany, access to the peninsula and a limited customer base.
More than half the businesses are small operations, with 62 percent employing five staff (or fewer). “Living locally” was mentioned as one of the most appealing aspects of doing business in Whangaparaoa.
The survey results are in the Agenda linked here. [70MB PDF]
