Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Women’s clothing brand Augustine’s decision to pull back from bigger sizes is a sensible compromise to find efficiencies, one retail expert says.

Founder Kelly Coe told her followers that she will only offer size eight to 16 in future.

She said over the 18 years she had been in the retail industry she had designed and produced thousands of styles “and over the years have tried to cater to everyone”.

“I wanted to be here for every single NZ woman who loves clothes, and I gave that a damn good shot. But the truth is, I am just one designer, who owns a small NZ business and I can’t please everyone and I can’t cater to all of you. So it has come to a point where we decided not to.”

The brand previously offered Stella Royal, a range that went to size 22. It ended that line and extended its other items to size 20 but recent collections have only run to size 16.

“We tried for years to dress our curvy babes and in the end we just get left with so much stock that ends up in our outlet store, it’s just not sustainable,” Coe wrote.

“I know sometimes online it looks like the larger sizes have sold out but usually that’s because we only had a few to start with in that size. Also when we order seven or eight sizes instead of five, our minimums to our factory double, creating way too much of one style. Our bestselling sizes are eight to 16 so as a business decision we have decided to only do these sizes.”

It has been a topic of discussion among Augustine fans online.

“This is genuinely upsetting and disappointing. It’s not about expecting you to please everyone, but about the sadness of no longer feeling included after being loyal customers for so long,” one wrote.

“I have been trying hard to continue supporting NZ businesses, which makes this feel even harder.”

Another said she wore Augustine clothes almost every day.

“It helped me feel safe after breast cancer and treatment, confident in new jobs and blessed me with new friends. That’s pretty amazing thing for ‘just’ a piece of clothing to do, and I am so grateful to you for that. And while I completely accept and understand your business decision, I feel a sense of grief for what I have lost.”

Retail expert Chris Wilkinson said the decision makes sense.

“This is a situation that plays out for all clothing brands in terms of needing to find efficiencies and stop profit leakages to remain sustainable. It’s probably been more visible in Augustine’s case because the brand does have such a strong following some of their loyal customers will be upset that they won’t be able to continue buying the product.

“Augustine’s bright colour ways and contemporary styles have a distinct following and there are few comparatives, meaning the faithful outside of the core size ranges will have to consider options not necessarily with the same vibrancy and styling that they have loved.

“While understandably challenging for some people, it’s better they make this move now before slow moving lines compromise its ability to continue supporting the needs of the majority of its customers.”

He said making a range of sizes could be more expensive.

“It adds complexity as suppliers need to setup for each size and will likely have minimum order requirements. If they don’t reach those, then the products will be more expensive which the supplier either has to absorb or charge extra for – a situation that would surely compromise goodwill.”

Some customers questioned what they should do with gift vouchers if there were not likely to be any new garments in their size.

Consumer NZ said they would not have many options.

“They may be able to sell their vouchers to someone else or see if the business is willing to provide a refund.”

Plus-size writer and influencer Meagan Kerr said it was a tough retail environment for many brands.

She said there seemed to be a wider shift away from earlier efforts by brands in New Zealand and around the world to be more inclusive.

Kerr said, if the most popular sizes were eight to 16, it could be because of how they were marketed.

“There will be a lot of people who are really sad because people who like their brand really like their brand. They’ve got a lot of people who are brand advocates so if they make clothes that are your style and you don’t know where to find an alternative now that they’re not making them, I can understand why people would be upset about that.”

Augustine has been approached for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/11/customers-upset-as-nz-designer-stops-making-plus-sized-clothes/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Small- and medium-sized businesses SMEs are handling more work than usual, with nearly 40 percent reporting an increase in levels normally expected in the first quarter, according to a recent survey of more than 500 businesses.

The first quarter survey by accounting software firm MYOB indicates a quarter of SMEs had less work than usual in the pipeline, though there was an increase in the number expecting an increase in trade over the first three months of 2026.

Several key sectors, including 38 percent of manufacturing SMEs, 37 percent of retail businesses and 33 percent of the construction and trades businesses surveyed reported an increase in orders or work commissioned before the end of March.

MYOB chief customer officer Dean Chadwick said many SMEs were still navigating uneven demand and ongoing cost pressures, though the survey results suggested business activity for the new year had started on firmer footing.

“SMEs ended 2025 with largely steady trading conditions in the final few months of the year, though performance varied across the sector,” he said.

“While more than a quarter of businesses exceeded their sales expectations and most met their forecasts, a quarter saw a softer-than-predicted performance.”

The survey indicated SMEs were moving on their own spending plans, with 44 percent of those surveyed planning to bring forward deductible business purchases on things like supplies or equipment, before 31 March.

“We know from our research at the end of last year that many local businesses are planning to take advantage of the Investment Boost to maximise business investment this year,” he said.

“We can also see from the latest data that businesses are making good on the growth ambitions they signalled at the end of last year – not only seizing opportunities to increase sales before the end of the financial year, but also upping their own spending on plant, supplies and equipment to boost their operations.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/11/more-work-rolls-in-for-small-and-medium-sized-businesses/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – NZ Post is closing service counters and cutting delivery days. What is the future of mail going to look like?

So, is mail delivery as we know it just going to vanish?

Not so fast, says NZ Post CEO David Walsh, who says the agency is in the midst of a massive transformation in the face of rapidly dropping mail numbers.

“New Zealanders are communicating differently,” he said.

“I think we’ve all experienced that in our personal lives as well, and that change has been going on for quite some years.”

Here’s what you need to know about how NZ post is changing.

What’s happening to NZ Post?

The agency is in the middle of what it’s called “a period of transformation,” shifting its emphasis towards parcel delivery and consolidating many of its services.

In October, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment approved changes to the Postal Deed of Understanding between the Crown and NZ Post, allowing them to change some of their procedures.

The changes approved include:

• Permitting a minimum frequency of 2 days delivery to urban, PO Box and private bag addresses, or 3 days for rural. The days must be spread throughout the week. Formerly, 3 days per week urban and 5 days rural were required.
• Allowing a minimum 500 total postal service points, then down to a minimum of over 400 after four years. Previously a minimum 880 points were required.
• The ability to convert up to 5 percent of delivery points to communal points annually.

For consumers, this boils down to likely fewer delivery days and postal counters.

Deed change doesn’t automatically result in operational change to NZ Post’s services, Walsh has said, but it gives the network more flexibility to make changes.

It announced back in 2024 that it would be gradually combining its two separate mail and parcel networks into one operation.

“For customers – this means your mail and parcels will eventually be delivered by one person, rather than two separate deliveries made by a Postie and a Courier,” Walsh has said.

That’s all basically because mail volumes have dropped dramatically.

How bad has it gotten?

“It wasn’t that long ago we were delivering 700, 800 million mail items a year,” Walsh said. “We think in the next 12 months that could be well under 150 million mail items.”

According to NZ Post’s latest annual report, 158 million mail items were delivered in fiscal year 2025, down from 187m in 2024, while 88 million parcels were delivered, up from 84m in 2024.

“Parcels have grown significantly over the last three or four years, and mail has declined significantly in the same time,” Walsh said.

New Zealand addresses currently receive less than two letters each per week, compared to 7.5 in 2013, a spokesperson told RNZ.

The service has started to move back upwards after heavy losses – after a $56m loss in 2023, there was a $14m loss in 2024, and a $2m loss in 2025, according to their annual report.

The transformation toward parcel delivery is still in progress, Walsh said.

“When and how that happens we’re still progressively working our way through change, but that will depend on where volumes get to over the next few years. It’s too early to say exactly when.

“We believe it’s a good solution to maintain a great mail service.”

Consolidating parcel and mail delivery into one would be more economical, he said.

“Having one person deliver down the street is clearly more efficient than having two, so that is the goal.”

So, we’ll get mail less often?

Although the changes to the Deed of Understanding now lets urban delivery be as few as two days a week, that hasn’t happened so far.

“We haven’t moved to twice a week yet, that is still something that will respond to as we see changing demand for mail services,” Walsh said. “If there is a permanent change in frequency we will certainly communicate that in advance.”

It’s hardly a transformation unique to New Zealand. Mail services around the world have been dealing with lower volume and higher costs. Last year, Denmark became reportedly the first country in the world to end its national letter delivery service entirely.

John Maynard of the Postal Workers Union of Aotearoa recently criticised some of the cuts and changes on RNZ’s Midday Report.

“It’s one thing that people will want to use emails over the old traditional mail system, but it’s quite another thing for a state-owned enterprise to act in a manner which consistently undermines people’s confidence in an institution.”

Could you no longer get mail delivered to your house?

That’s one of the concerns raised by the union to RNZ late last year.

The Deed of Understanding now allows for up to 5 percent of delivery points annually to be changed to communal points – such as a cluster of boxes which service multiple addresses on a street.

Maynard told RNZ the suggestion to stop delivering to individual home letterboxes was “sort of hidden away in the document”.

“Putting the letterboxes in clusters makes it easier for the company to sack all the posties and have them delivered by vans which wouldn’t have to stop at your house, they’d put your mail at the end of the street,” he said.

However, Walsh said, the changes were more geared towards new developments, such as entrances to apartment buildings.

“There is both what the deed permits and what I expect us to continue to do”.

NZ Post also said in a statement, “we do not have widespread plans to move to communal delivery, and customers who currently have an individual letterbox can expect their delivery to continue as normal.”

While the deed does allow for consolidation of some delivery points, Walsh said, “From the perspective of NZ Post, if you’re in urban New Zealand and you have a letterbox outside your house, it’s almost certain we will continue to deliver to your house.”

However, he said NZ Post needs flexibility for new subdivisions or developments in rural areas.

“That will mean that we can continue to offer good service to those areas.

“As more households come on, that’s more points for us to deliver, but every site is having less mail be delivered too, so that makes it incredibly expensive for us to maintain to those new sites being developed.”

The Deed of Understanding says that “Any proposed change requires reasonable notice and community engagement before any conversions.”

What about my local post shop? Is it closing?

NZ post also announced recently that it would close 142 service counters in convenience stores, pharmacies and libraries around the country, leaving 567 still operating.

Walsh said NZ Post had a “robust process” looking at what services were being used the most and where, when it came time to decide on closures.

“The data I have at the moment is that about around 90 percent of urban New Zealanders will be within 4km of a retail site” once the changes are in effect, he said.

To find out what’s happening in your area see the NZ Post Website list.

NZ Post says it has invested $290 million into infrastructure and automation.

NZ Post has also opened up new retail hubs for sending, collecting and returning parcels in Auckland, with more planned around the country, and five large processing centres.

How will these changes affect people who rely on the post?

The decision to close outlets has upset some smaller communities, who worry about the impact on older customers or those without easy access to alternatives.

Manjit Singh has a postal service in his shop in the rural Waikato town of Te Kauwhata, and told RNZ recently the decision to close it “doesn’t make sense to me at all”.

“Right opposite my shop, there’s an old-age home, and people quite enjoy our service. They will have to go to Huntly or Pukekohe.”

“It’s easy for millennials and younger generations, but older people will really struggle,” Springfield Superette owner Raj Kumar of Rotorua told RNZ recently.

Stuart Dick is the chair of the board at the Magazine Publishers Association and general manager at Are Media which publishes weekly magazines including the New Zealand Women’s Weekly and the Listener.

“It is concerning that NZ Post are neglecting their core service and customers by reducing delivery days,” he said.

“Thankfully there are alternative delivery networks growing to provide some coverage, and the majority of magazines are sold via retail outlets.

“However this does not absolve NZ Post of their core purpose to ‘Deliver what people care about’ which includes the magazine subscriptions that our readers love, along with many other things Kiwis rely on their national postal network to deliver.”

Walsh said NZ Post was aware of those concerns.

“We will continue to work with those senders that have specific time requirements around them. We may not have perfect answers for everyone but we are absolutely committed to working with those senders to see what we can do to support their requirements.”

He said NZ Post’s goal was to make the changes with as little disruption as possible.

“It’s not easy, it’s clearly going to have impacts on some people, but we’re trying to get that balance right.”

Will mail ever go away entirely?

Asked if NZ Post as we know it is just going to vanish entirely at some point, Walsh said it was simply responding to changes in the culture.

“The way New Zealanders communicate, what they choose to receive, is choices that we don’t make, so we are responding to those changes and that’s really what we’re reflecting.”

NZ Post’s pivot to parcels also means it is more directly competing with services such as Aramex and DHL.

“It is a very competitive delivery market out there,” Walsh said.

“I’m proud of how well NZ post both competes and operates. We have made some pretty significant investments over the last few years to make sure we can continue to scale up our parcel and parcel delivery services.”

However, the Postal Union’s Maynard told Midday Report he was still concerned about what the future might hold.

“I think we’re going to see some more reductions in NZ Post services allowed for under the deed. I think this sort of thing will continue, pressure from the government, for NZ Post to cut costs and give the cash back to the government.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/11/whats-happening-to-the-future-of-nz-post-services-in-new-zealand/

Source: Radio New Zealand

It is “business as usual” at Air New Zealand despite a number of flight cancellations affecting thousands of passengers as a result of strike action.

Flight attendants working aboard the airline’s Boeing 777 and 787 long range aircraft will stop work on Thursday and Friday after failing to agree on terms over pay and conditions.

Flight Attendants’ Association president Craig Featherby said his members would rather not strike but the union had tried everything to reach a deal with the airline to no avail.

Featherby said an original plan for three days of strike action was reduced to two.

Air New Zealand chief customer and digital officer Jeremy O’Brien told Morning Report it had proactively contacted all customers affected by the flight cancellations and offered alternative flights across its airline as well as its partner airlines.

The “vast majority” had been offered travel dates within a few days either side of the strike action.

Flights most affected were heading to North America and Asia, he said.

O’Brien said he appreciated that not all offered flights would suit every customer and a full credit or refund was available for those in that situation.

They could also claim “reasonable costs” involved with the disruption, like if accommodation was impacted by the changes.

O’Brien said disruptions to flights were “part and parcel” with what happen for airlines operating around the world.

“This is no different than other disruptions that we manage on an ongoing basis. It’s just part of business as usual.

“The key thing for us is when we know that we’ve got a disruption to the schedule that we go out and offer as many alternatives and options as possible to the customers and in this case, the whole business is rallying around and been able to do that.”

Questioned if industrial action by its flight attendants was a bit more than “business as usual”, O’Brien said the cause of disruptions was irrelevant for customers.

It was more about what the airline would do to get them where they needed to go, he said.

Air New Zealand respected the flight attendants right to strike and it was reacting as a business – which meant focusing on what options were available to customers, he said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/11/what-does-the-air-new-zealand-flight-attendant-strike-mean-for-travellers/