Before you discount.....
How much more will you need to sell?

NZ Retailers Association CEO, John Albertson, cautions retailers about the perils of discounting in his notes to members this month.

He writes: Your business needs to generate sufficient cash to:
- Cover the cost of buying the next lot of stock
- Pay the costs of operation - wages, rent etc
- return you, the owner, a profit.

You need to the dollar margin (cash) for all these payments. So, when you discount you need to generate additional sales to make up for the cash you forgo by discounting.

For example if your normal mark-up is 100%, your normal gross margin is 50%. If you discount by 30% you'll need to sell 2.5 times normal volumes to make the same gross profit.

The Association has a discount matrix which quickly shows how much more you'll need to sell on their website here.

Friday Night Drinks for Parnell people
Weekly wind-down get-together

On Tuesday, the Parnell B2B drew a large crowd to Boulgaris Maguire (thanks Michael, Wayne and BM team!). Michael is enjoying being in Parnell, and wonders why he didn't make the move years ago. And good news: he's confident that the property market is bouncing back and on the rise again.

Parnell Inc's monthly B2Bs, held on the first Tuesday of each month, are a wonderful opportunity to create business links with Parnell people. Look for details of the next event in this newsletter.

Barry Brown, the very debonaire new manager of Westpac Parnell, suggested that we build on the great camaraderie Parnell people enjoy, by inviting anyone who wishes to join in to casual drinks on Friday afternoons. It's a good way to catch up, build your local business connections, and wind down at the end of another productive week.

So, this afternoon look out for Barry (in very tailored light grey suit with wide white pinstripe) at the front bar of Igucau- 269 Parnell Road - from 5.30pm.

Good Citizen Award for Kate Tolmie-Bowden
Founder of Parnell Heritage

Parnell resident, and founder of Parnell Heritage, Kate Tolmie-Bowden, was awarded a Hobson Community Board Good Citizen Award by Auckland City Mayor John Banks on July 21.

The award was given in recognition of Ms Tolmie-Bowden's "outstanding service to the community."

Hobson Community Board chairperson Desley Simpson said: "Parnell is Auckland's oldest  suburb and Kate has done an outstanding amount of work to preserve and promote the history of Parnell. She is a most worthy recipient of this special award."

Kate was a founder of the Parnell Heritage Incorporated Society in 2005 and since that time she has been a critical part of the success of the historical society. Read more

Her roles have been Vice Chair and Secretary involving all aspects of secretarial, administrative, fundraising and event hosting along with coordinating special projects. The Society has grown to be the largest in the Auckland region - a result attributed to Kate's enthusiasm and passion for preserving and promoting the history of Parnell.

Kate has been the driving force behind an annual children's history contest and coordinating better protection on houses in Residential 2 zoning (Plan Change 163). She has provided an enormous amount of volunteer time to ensure the success of the organisation (now close to 200 members) and significant funds towards its commitments.

Artist's talk at Aesthete Gallery
Gickmai Kundun, Monday 6 - 8pm

Aesthete Parnell Gallery provides a unique opportunity to hear sculptor and artist Gickmai Kundun speaking in-depth about our current exhibition, "Liklik Luk Save" ("little window of understanding") Papua New Guinea Contemporary Art.  Accompany the artist as he guides us from work to work explaining the ideas and processes which inform the exhibition contents.

This is an excellent opportunity to discover what motivates the painter, to learn more about the contemporary art which is continually emerging from Papua New Guinea and to meet both a senior and established member of the Papua New Guinea arts community.

Aesthete Parnell Gallery, 251 Parnell Road, Ph 377 4832.  Light refreshments will be served.