Making decisions on your retail store network based on media speculation is like having a crazy cat lady run your pet store – you know it will turn out badly but, well, it just seems much easier than having to think about it yourself.

At present we’re working on the last remaining vacancies at Sugarworld Village, in the Cairns suburb of Edmonton.  There’s been a common theme amongst existing and prospective retailers that they will make a decision on the site when they know more about the South Cairns Hospital site.  Not knowing about such a significant piece of infrastructure, I turned to my trusty friend Google to get some answers.

As it turns out, there has been a hospital proposed for the southern Cairns corridor for over a decade (see The Cairns Post article) and the project was dragged out into the public consciousness recently when the chair of the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service was interviewed in mid 2016.

Retail is a highly dynamic industry and that enables great retailers to continually scan their environment for new opportunities and threats to their business, and adapt accordingly.  This environmental scanning is only one part of an effective business plan though.  Too many retailers rely totally on outside influences (like the cat lady) instead of doing the hard yards and getting to know the internal performance metrics of their particular business.

Problem is with outside influences, it is really hard to track so many issues and stay up-to-date.  For the latest on the status of the Cairns South Hospital, I thought that the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Strategic Plan 2013 -2017 would be useful.  If you click the link you will see why managing the internal metrics is a much better proposition than relying on media reports.

The great retailers know and manage their metrics intensely whilst keeping a “weather eye” on their surrounding environment.  That means they avoid relying on speculation and rumour but still capture opportunities when they arise.

For more information on Sugarworld Village, see here.