News

Australians can now swap, buy or sell unwanted or unused group deals or vouchers for free, thanks to the launch of a new online marketplace, Swapdeals.

The retail industry received the surprise news yesterday that Premier Retail will close 50 of its stores in Australia and New Zealand and cut staff numbers, as part of new CEO Mark McInnes’ efforts to return the business to profitability.

Maria Pantalone offers tips to ensure you don’t commit ‘Death by PowerPoint’ in your business.

“Nowadays PowerPoint is a common tool used to assist in presentations & the slides should provide your audience with an at-a-glance understanding of the material to support your main points.”

The Victorian Small Business Festival kicks off on 1 August, promising to celebrate the role of small business in the state with its month long program of dedicated small business events.

Small businesses see little difference between the Big4 major banks and regional bank brands such as BankWest, BankSA and St George, new research has found.

Danielle MacInnis has some tips for using podcasts to market your small business.

“Podcasting has emerged as one of the best ways to show your expertise to potential customers – it’s simple and offers a great way to reach large audiences.”

Rick Mapperson blogs about the risks to business of a heavy reliance on technology.

“Ask yourself an obvious question: ‘If the technology that I use in my business were to suddenly become unavailable, for whatever reason, would it affect my ability to do business?’”

Gloria Jeans has collected two honours in the 2011 Australian Business Awards, being named alongside a number of big businesses recognised for being progressive and innovative.

Despite a slight improvement in business conditions during the June quarter, the NAB Quarterly Business Survey has found conditions remain soft and further weakness is likely in the near term.

Brad Smith’s story is a classic example of a passionate hobby unfolding into small business success. From quiet beginnings in the backyard shed with his Dad, his passion, drive and energy have helped him build a retail chain of braaap stores.

Each Friday, you can now look forward to Dynamic Business bringing you a must-read interview with a well-known or up-and-coming Australian entrepreneur.

Your Friday Entrepreneur Fix this week features Will Young, the man behind cult coffee brand, Campos.

Tim Wolfenden blogs about effective management of the multitude of business costs.

“Integrating fixed cost management into your business planning process is the key to keeping these costs down.”

Over 1 million users around the world have downloaded Apple’s OS X Lion, the operating system being hailed as a step forward in the merger of PCs and smart devices, in just 24 hours.

Australia will soon have its first carbon neutral business precinct, with the Grote Business Precinct working alongside the Energy Efficient Building Australia to become carbon neutral by 2020.

COSBOA has raised concerns about the culture of the superannuation industry, where it believes many director positions appear to be “sinecures” for people from unions and big business associations.

Allphones Retail Pty Ltd has been fined $45,000 for contempt of court orders, following action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Trend Micro has unveiled its first cloud-based productivity tool for SMBs, delivering a service that promises agility, flexibility, security and cost savings.

Poor spending looks set to continue hurting the retail industry, with the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI) falling again in June.

Edelman has launched Bloglevel and version 2.0 of Tweetlevel, two new tools designed to help companies navigate social media platforms, like blogs and Twitter, to identify which users are influential on a particular topic.

Morris Bryant offers up an alternate view about the benefits to business of the group buying market.

“The deals addiction isn’t going to keep the industry afloat, it’s only going to ruin it – but the problem doesn’t just lie with consumers.”