Rental properties are one of the ATO’s favourite areas to target when it comes to auditing tax returns. The deduction claims are what the ATO mainly focuses on so keep reading to find out common items we come across with investment rental properties and how you can stay compliant with the ATO when disclosing your rental property activities.
With another financial year coming to an end, it is a good time to stop and reflect a little on what you have achieved this year.
Personally for me it is the most innovative time of the year. I take the time to reflect on what we achieved, our successes and our failures. Nothing is ever perfect in the world. But it allows me to identify what went wrong. Then what strategies we can employ to reverse our failures and what we can do to progress towards our goals. So with this in mind, I would strongly suggest you take the time to review and reflect.
Pharmacy Partnerships, what should I consider?
Following on from my blog “You want to Buy a Pharmacy, why would you want to do that?” one of the most common entry points into pharmacy ownership is partnerships.
Quite often the first entry point for most talented young pharmacists is being offered to buy into the pharmacy where they work. This is the entry point where many ownership dreams have been created.
So you want to buy a pharmacy?
I speak to many young pharmacists that are keen to buy a pharmacy for the first time. I help them with their structuring, valuations, due diligence, advice, mentoring and getting them in touch with the right lawyers and bank managers. It is a stressful and anxious time, as it should be. They are about to borrow ALOT of money.
We all know that the giant supermarket chains spend millions of dollars on researching consumer behaviour. Nothing they do in the store is an accident. From the position of displays to the direction you walk around the store everything is planned to get you to buy more.
As a small retailer, you can learn from the big boys and use similar strategies to give your customers a good shopping experience encouraging them to buy more and, more importantly, come back. These 7 tips from marketing experts.
Ok, I know you're pressed for time, but vibrant window displays are vital.
Linda Cahan of Cahan & Co states that "many small retailers don't do window displays, letting customers simply look straight into the shop, and that's a mistake. As your eyes are the windows of your soul, store windows are the eyes of the shop." Each window should tell a story."
She suggests that small retailers create an appealing display
a. Use a single color theme to grab attention and communicate your store's image b. Avoid clutter because in retailing, space equals luxury. Items crammed together look cheap.
Slow your customers down with an eye-catching colourful display
Allow you the customer to see your shop. Notice how in Target you can see from one side of the store to the other. Shelves that customers can see over provides an unrestricted view of your store.
Avoid the mistake of many smaller retailers. Large shelving units near the front of the shop can block the view. If you have lower shelving units with short hooks and narrow shelves, then the store looks full with less stock. And that's a money saving strategy.
Brian Dyches, chief experience officer of retail branding firm Ikonic Tonic in Los Angeles, reports that studies have shown that most people naturally look first left, then right as they enter a store and that shoppers usually then prefer to move right and walk counter-clockwise around the store. Via 7 Layout Secrets of the Big Retail Chains
Do you have an isle that ends in a back wall? If you have, turn the wall into a compelling display and draw shoppers deeper into your store.
It may more efficient use of space to have the shelving units parallel to the shops exterior walls, but, if its possible angle the shelves to a central isle forming an arrow layout.
Only do this if you can keep the isles wide enough for your customers to get around easily.
What's their secret? Here are seven layout tips from experts who have worked with many major retailers.
Up to 20 percent of the store's merchandise is skipped over because long, uninterrupted isles don't get people's attention. So, if possible, create breaks and use them to grab people's attention.
People are attracted to round and U-shapes, Dyches says. To get shoppers to stop at a display, try hanging a circular sign from the ceiling or placing a U-shaped background, such as a low wall with small sides extending forward, behind it. These make people want to stop and enter the space, which resembles a person extending their arms for a hug. Nordstrom makes great use of this technique in apparel displays, putting U-shaped partial walls behind mannequins on some displays, Dyches says. Source
2. Create a questionnaire and ask your employees and customers to give you feedback. 2. Hire a student from a local university to use your store as part of their research project 3. Find 2nd hand shop fittings to create displays in your store 4. Change displays regularly to maintain interest. Via 7 Layout Secrets of the Big Retail Chains
Now for 5 Habits of Success from Forbes.
Retailers are busy folks, with those not in the industry often misjudging just how much is on their to-do-lists. If you own a pharmacy, you already know that your list of tasks exceeds most other retail ventures.
With this in mind, successful retailers recognize the value in scheduling what is necessary to do and eliminating what is not. This also means recognizing that while some responsibilities are more enjoyable than others, all responsibilities must be prioritized to effectively run a successful retail business. Scheduling time limits and deadlines – even as your own boss – can help make retailers stay focused and on schedule, eliminating extra time spent where it shouldn’t be.
With a lot on a retailer’s to-do-list, who has time to dwell on the past? Sure, it’s easy to fall into this habit when mistakes are made, or opportunities are missed.
Retailers are bound to make poor inventory investments or have a slow month; however successful retailers analyze these situations as opportunities to learn from versus beat themselves up over.
One of the best ways to do this is lean on data... This often includes incorporating a point of sale (POS) system, using social media monitoring software and tracking customer loyalty. The more retailers know through hard data, the better they are in supporting their customers.
Stores spend a lot of money to open their doors and keep them open, which is why it always surprises me when a sales associate has no idea how to support the customers in their store.
The people of any business are the faces of that brand… whether they want to accept that role or not. As employers, it’s important to understand this reality and train associates to best represent their stores. Retailers who successfully run their businesses recognize the value in their associates and not only train them, but train them often.
The key is to invest time and dollars into your employees to reap the rewards of strong associates and as a result, healthy sales.
Know your competitors. Whether it’s your big box competitors or your local Main Street stores, successful merchants know who their competition is. And while it would be easy to simply read about their competition, savvy retailers take the time to actually visit the stores that compete with their business.
The following 7 points are a few of the main points savvy retailers analyse
1. What is their product assortment like? 2. What is the customer experience like? 3. What are their displays like? Can you learn from them? 4. Are they taking advantage of online shopping opportunities? 5. Do they have special events? 6. What is their dress code? 7. What is their customer service like?
Often, this type of routine analysis allows retailers to recognize new industry trends, missed opportunities, new strategies to compete for sales and other ways to stay afloat in the competitive retail marketplace.
Merchants who have become successful and more importantly, stayed successful, are willing to shift their inventory plans to accommodate their customers versus themselves.
When merchants listen to their customers, react to consumer trends, work with their vendors and respond to what their customers want, they can more efficiently buy inventory for their stores. Click to read the full article
Because Peak Strategies specialise in the Pharmacy and Medical Industries we are uniquely placed to provide you with accurate industry specific data to help you grow your business.
Email or call John Thornett on 9315 3117 to find out how we can help you grow your pharmacuy business. for an appraisal of your pharmacy and how you can expand and improve sales.
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