June 1 2020 INL Digital Edition

JUNE 1, 2020
Even as he prepared to
battle for his position as the
Leader of National Party at an
emergency Caucus meeting in
Wellington on Friday, May 21, 2020,
Simon Bridges suffered another
blow at the One News Colmar Brunton
Poll.
It placed him at 6% as the
preferred Prime Minister, down by
5% from the previous Poll.
He subsequently lost his leadership
role to fellow MP Todd Muller,
who chose former Minister Nikki
Kaye as his new Deputy. A related
story appears under Homelink.
Jacinda Ardern record high
Jacinda Ardern reached 63% as
the preferred Prime Minister, up by
21 percentage points from the previous
Poll, the highest ever. Judith
Collins (National) remained at 3%,
while Winston Peters (New Zealand
First) lost two percentage points to
New Zealand’s
largest furniture and
homewares retailer
Nido opened its doors
to the public on Saturday, May
30 2020.
With its extensive range of
solutions for various industries,
businesses and homes, the
advent of Nido will be a major
boost to Auckland’s economy
and the country’s employment
sector.
Located in West Auckland,
close to the Motorways, the
new Store occupies 27,000 sq
metres of land and floor area
and cost $60 million to build.
It carries more than 10,000
product lines, arguably the
most extensive retail store in
New Zealand.
Nido is 100% New Zealand-owned
company and will
create 180 new jobs.
Managing Director Vinod
Kumar, who has more than
four decades of experience in
related wholesale and retail
business, said that hundreds of
containers of products arrived
New Zealand in the months
prior to Covid-19, which meant
that there was no interruption
in supply lines.
“We will a wide range of
items as we open the store
tomorrow,” he said.
International sourcing
Nido is a dream project for
Mr Kumar, who faced several
challenges over the past nine
or more years. This included
extensive research, compliance
and other issues.
With his penchant to
offer the most extensive and
unparalled choice of products,
Mr Kumar and his team have
sourced products from various
parts of New Zealand, United
States of America and Europe,
making it the largest retail
operation in the country.
“We will eventually offer
online shopping functionality
through our website and provide
nationwide distribution
for our products shortly, Mr
Kumar said.
He said that apart from
substantial financial invest-
Businesslink
Another Opinion Poll brings bad news for National
One News Colmar Brunton
respondents elevate
Jacinda Ardern to 63%
Venkat Raman
Venkat Raman
Jacinda Ardern and Simon Bridges (RNZ/Getty Images)
reach 1% rating.
The Colmar Bruton Poll involved
1003 voters over landline and mobile
phones between May 16, to May 20,
2020- days after the government
announced its Budget 2020.
The maximum sampling error is
approximately ±3.1%-points at the
95% confidence level.
The data has been weighted to align
with Stats NZ population counts for
age, gender, region, ethnic identification
and mobile or landline access.
Ms Ardern, who polled the highest
in the 25-year history of One News
Colmar Brunton Poll, had 51% rating
on April 15, 2019, a month after the
Christchurch Massacre. Her compassionate
response to the terrorist
attack, unheard of in New Zealand,
catapulted her to the world stage and
her handling of the Covid-19 health
crisis has enhanced her image.
Second blow for Bridges
This is a second blow for Mr Bridges
and National Party this week.
On Monday, (May 18, 2020), the
latest Newshub Reid-Research Poll
gave Labour Party 56.5% rating (up
by 14 percent points over its previous
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poll), while National was at 30.6%,
losing 12.7 percentage points. The
Green Party was marginally above
the 5% threshold while New Zealand
First dropped to 2.7%, compared to
the previous poll.
The Colmar Brunton Poll has
again pushed Mr Bridges to negative
territory to -40 (from the previous
-22%), while Ms Ardern was high at
76%. About 86% of the respondents
said that they approved the way Ms
Ardern’s performance as the Prime
Minister, up from 62% in October
2019.
Those who did not like her style
of functioning, dropped to 10% from
29% in the previous poll.
Supporters on both sides
“The groups of people who were
more likely than average (86) to
approve of how Ms Ardern was
handling her job were Labour Party
supporters, people with an annual
household income of $30,001 to
$70,000, and women aged 55 and
over. Those more likely than average
(10%) to disapprove were National
Party supporters (28%), people living
in Taranaki or Manawatu-Wanganui
(18%) and men aged over 55 (16%),”
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the Colmar Brunton report said.
When asked if they approved or
disapproved of the way Mr Bridges
was handling his job as Leader of the
National Party, 22% of those polled
approved and 63% disapproved. This
was compared to 29% approving last
October and 51% disapproving.
New Zealanders of Asian Zealander
origin, men aged 55 and National
Party supporters were among those
who approved Mr Bridges as a
Leader.
Those who did not approve Mr
Bridges were households with an annual
income of more than $150,000,
women aged 55 and over and New
Zealand Europeans.
Todd Muller, National’s Member
of Parliament from Bay of Plenty is
to challenge Mr Bridges’ leadership
at the Party’s Caucus meeting in
Wellington tomorrow. He has chosen
Central Auckland MP Nikki Kaye as
his Deputy.
National MPs will cast their vote
in a secret ballot. The winner would
need 28 seats. At the time of reporting,
there were only two candidates
for the Leader’s position.
New Zealand’s largest retailer opens in Auckland
Nido at 158 Central Park
Drive, Henderson
A new Name and Chapter in Retailing Some members of the Nido Team. Managing Director Vinod Kumar is standing in the Centre Products for home and office from Nido
ment, Nido has taken in nine
years of research into the
most innovative retail models
considered in various parts of
the world.
“Nido offers 80 exclusive
brands and feature more than
100 display rooms. These will
be continuously updated. This
store will open a new chapter
in retailing in New Zealand,”
he said.
Boosting consumer
confidence
First Retail Group Managing
Director Chris Wilkinson said
that the opening of Nido will
boost retail confidence and
help reinvigorate the category
amongst Kiwi consumers.
“People have been focused
on their home environment
for the past eight weeks, and
we know that during the lockdown,
the businesses in these
categories have done very well
selling their essential items.
These types of Stores will be
the first destinations Kiwis
head to once we come out of
lockdown as many of them
will have identified projects
they want to get started,” he
said.
Mr Wilkinson said that
along with home makeovers,
businesses will also be looking
to offerings like Nido as we
transition to a new way of
working post-Covid-19.
Significant change
“We are going to see a
significant change in people’s
workplaces and more of us
will be working from home,
and hence business owners
are also going to need to
reconsider commercial environments
and office solutions,
so we expect to see growth
here too,” he said.
Mr Wilkinson said that
increasingly, New Zealanders
are looking for shopping solutions
that are bought together
under one roof.
“We expect customers to
travel from the Waikato and
Bay of Plenty to purchase
from the Store. I think that it
is inspirational for the New
Zealand market, the products
have been carefully curated
to focus on what New Zealand
consumers like and want,
they have a universal appeal
but underpinning that is an
answer to a Kiwi demand
for products which have
convenience and value,” Mr
Wilkinson said.
Mr Kumar said that the
new Store will cater to a wide
range of budgets and tastes
and New Zealanders will
be able to access the latest
products, technology and
global design trends all under
one roof.
“The scale of our Store is
hard to comprehend until
you are in it, but to give some
indication, we are able to
accommodate a full-size
three-bedroom show-home
inside. This has been homestaged
by our team of interior
designers,” he said.
About Vinod Kumar
Born in Fiji, Vinod Kumar
graduated in Civil Engineering
from the University of Auckland
in 1975 and launched
his career at Fletcher
Construction. After becoming
a Permanent Resident in 1987,
he brought his family from Fiji
and built his first family home
in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland.
Despite the recession in 1989,
he established his first retail
business with Mitre 10 in Henderson.
The venture expanded
rapidly and he continued to
invest in the business.
Mr Kumar won in several
categories of the Indian
Newslink Indian Business
Awards, including the 'Supreme
Business of the Year Award’
in its launch year in 2008 and
again in 2013. At each of the
acceptance speeches, he advocated
for better facilitation of
investors and businesspersons,
asking the government of the
day and commercial banks
for appropriate policies and
incentives.
He was also voted twice ‘New
Zealand Retailer of the Year.’
Nido Business Division
The Company’s Commercial
Division Nido@work will
also carry thousands of
European and locally sourced
commercial furniture products
targeting business from SMEs
to large-scale corporates and
government departments.
Mr Kumar is excited about
the opening of Nido and looks
forward to the opening of the
secone phase of opening following
the lifting of all Covid-19
restrictions.
“More product lines,
including large furniture and
room settings will also be made
available in the coming weeks
as lockdown restrictions are
lifted and parking spaces for
more than 600 vehicles. The
first stage of recruitment has
been completed with a further
90 roles to be advertised later
in the year,” Mr Kumar said.