Central Coast Businesses Confront Challenges and Headwinds Facing This Sector This Year

Central Coast small businesses recorded an average 12 percent drop in net margins during the January-to-June period, according to figures compiled by the regional chamber.

The decline traces directly to a combination of elevated commercial rents, supplier price hikes and repeated telecommunications failures that hit point-of-sale systems and online bookings. With winter trade already softer in coastal retail strips, owners now face decisions on staffing levels and inventory orders before the September quarter.

Rising Costs Hit Gosford and Erina Traders

Along Mann Street in Gosford, several long-standing retailers absorbed a further 8 percent increase in lease renewals signed in March. A block away, the Central Coast Business Chamber’s mentoring program noted that 47 members had deferred planned fit-outs because of the new rates. At Erina Fair, independent fashion and homewares stores reported supplier invoices up 15 percent year-on-year, with freight surcharges from interstate warehouses cited as the main driver.

These pressures coincide with the July 10 Telstra outage that left card terminals offline for more than five hours across the region. Chamber staff logged more than 180 calls from affected members that day, many of them located in the Tuggerah industrial estate where just-in-time delivery schedules rely on constant connectivity.

Practical Steps for the Second Half

Businesses are being urged to audit their telecommunications contracts before the next billing cycle and to explore backup EFTPOS arrangements with smaller providers already operating on the Central Coast. The chamber will hold a supplier-diversification workshop at its Gosford office on 28 July, open to members at no charge. Owners who act on rent reviews and connectivity redundancy before September are expected to limit further margin erosion through the remainder of the financial year.