Annual Business Survey

Each year, local businesses are encouraged to take part in the annual Victor Harbor Business Survey. The survey is a collaboration between the City of Victor Harbor and Business Victor Harbor, and seeks to provide a clearer understanding of the challenges and opportunities that face our business community.

2023 Annual Business Survey

The key findings from the 2023 Victor Harbor Business Survey have been released, with rising rent and utility costs highlighted as common challenges for businesses.

The survey was circulated in late 2023 by the City of Victor Harbor and Business Victor Harbor to gain insight into the opportunities and difficulties faced by our local business community.

Businesses who completed the survey were from a range of industries with retail, food and hospitality, and health and human services heavily represented amongst respondents.

Despite the challenges facing business owners in the current economic climate, 67% of businesses indicated that they were ‘optimistic’ or ‘very optimistic’ about the future of their business in the region, with a further 26% indicating they felt ‘neutral’.

Other key findings from the survey included:

Around half of respondents believe their business will perform ‘much stronger’ or ‘somewhat stronger’ in the next six months compared to the last six months.
Finding suitably skilled and experienced staff continues to be a challenge, with a third of businesses currently navigating this difficulty.
The extent of low income households, seasonality, and availability of skilled labour were the top three factors making it difficult to operate a business in Victor Harbor.
‘Lifestyle and amenity’ was the top factor making Victor Harbor an attractive place to operate business.
A large number of businesses will be recruiting in the next twelve months, with 47% of respondents looking to hire one or more staff members.
Many business owners are interested to learn more about managing cashflow, grant funding opportunities and marketing their business.

View the results