Sensis: opportunity on the menu at Lara

Hamish Heard
Entrepreneurs hoping to open a restaurant in City of Greater Geelong should start scoping vacant sites at Lara.
That was the advice Sensis chief economist and market intelligence group manager Steven Shepherd gave during a seminar this week on local business trends in Geelong.
Mr Shepherd used his 25 years of experience in economic analysis and data gathered from 300 million hits on the Yellow Pages website to identify trends and pinpoint business opportunities for the region’s entrepreneurs.
He said Sensis market research had revealed 40 per cent of couples in the Geelong region had no children, eight per cent higher than the national average.
Similarly, the amount of people in the over60 age group was 25 per cent higher than the rest of the country.
“The income group with the highest level of disposable income is the 50s and 60s, so the data points to significant opportunities in retailing toward this demographic in Geelong,” Mr Shepherd said.
He also detailed analysis on the amount of internet hits on the Yellow Pages website from consumers looking for particular services to highlight geographical areas where supply was failing to meet demand.
“Based on the latest Yellow Pages online data, anyone looking to open a restaurant in the Geelong region should give greatest priority to Lara, followed by Geelong, Airey’s Inlet and Barwon Heads,” he said.
Mr Shepherd also compared regional and state trends for Victoria and the rest of the country.
Market research had found Victorian regional businesses were far less confident than their Melbourne counterparts, he said.
“We looked at general business activity and the indicators of business profit and sales have tended to be lower in regional areas than metropolitan businesses have experienced
A lack of confidence among Victorian business owners was reflected among the state’s consumers who cited concerns about future income levels and employability as reasons for little optimism.
“In terms of consumer confidence by location, we found Victorian consumers had the lowest confidence of any state or territory in Australia,” Mr Shepherd said.
While confidence among Victorian businesses was below the national average, the state’s small business operators were nearly 25 per cent more likely to pursue export markets.