Service is what counts says shopper's survey

Ruapehu Bulletin, 27 June 1989, Page 8

Service is what counts says shopper's survey

Last week the Bulletin conducted a shopper's survey to coincide with the Ruapehu South Business Association feature.

The survey was run in Ohakune and a similar one will be run in Raetihi this week. The survey was not a Statistics Department style survey but rather an informal questionnaire to be used as a starting point for discussion on local business. Results showed that almost all respondents

spend money both out of town and locally. A small percentage shopped only locally and none shopped only out of town. Wanganui was the out-of-town centre most visited followed by Palmerston North, Auckland, Taupo, Hamilton, Wellington, and Taumarunui. Most said the reason they shopped out of town was for a better range of goods, and almost as many said they shopped elsewhere because of price. Range of goods Asked: "What do you think of the local shops' range of goods" the commonest reply was good followed by very good, adequate, and then very poor. Comments included "quite good for a little town'Y'extremely limited","as expected due to lack of population", and "they have the everyday items". Most thought local prices were fair, many thought they were high and a few thought they were very high. Most shoppers thought service from shops was good, many thought it was very good and a few thought it was adequate. Only one person thought service was poor. Services We asked "What do you think of the range of services available here?" and were told by

most that it was adequate, with some saying it was good and a few saying the range was very good. Two people thought the range of services available were poor. Most thought services' prices were fair, though a few thought they were expensive. The quality of local services was mainly thought to be ok to good to very good. Just one person thought it was poor. Best shops We asked which local shops and/or businesses gave the best service and almost all shops were mentioned at lcast once. Mentioned the most was Berry's Bookshop followed by "all shops", George Edwards, Ragtime, Wholesome Foods, New World, Cedar Court, Skiers' Inn. RSBA Being a survey prompted by the Ruapehu South Business Association, we took it upon ourselves to ask if people knew about the Association. Most of those that answered (more than half did not answer the RSBA questions) said they had heard of the association but some of those said they didn't know what the group aims to do. Among answers to the question of what the aims of the RSBA are came: to boost business, to improve service, generate business growth, promote Ohakune, improve the facilities in the area, to boost public awareness

of the area, and to improve the publicity of the area. (One rogue answer was: "to drink at the Pub every week"!) We asked if they thought the RSBA were succeeding in their aims and most said yes, some said no and many did not answer the question. And finally we asked for any other comments on local businesses, Answers included: We need more, It's still a good place to be, Businesses shouldn't raise their prices every winter just because skiers are in town, Not enough variety of shops - too many of one kind, foodstuffs are expensive, overall quite good, I prefer local shopping because of the friendliness of the businesses, not bad for a small town, pleasant, shops in most cases could be brightened up, why can't shops get ordered __ goods in less than a week when I can get things sent in one day?, price is not the only factor in a good shop - good service and reliability are very important, it's unreasonable to expect people to buy major purchases locally when great savings can be made elsewhere. What the business people say Next week the Bulletin will be publishing the results to a Raetihi survey, as well as reactions from local , business operators an'd the RSBA to this week's survey results.