Profiling Small and Medium Family Retailers in the Tshwane Area of Gauteng, South Africa

The aim of this article was to profile the small and medium family retailers (SMEs) in the Tshwane area of Gauteng. The questionnaire targeting small business entities was designed to capture detailed profiles of small and medium family retailers. The final draft questionnaire (developed by BMR) was pilot tested amongst a five small businesses by a senior staff member colleague in the marketing department, which process resulted in a few adjustments. The final questionnaire focused on business location and profile. The conducted research revealed the following concerning the small and medium family retailers (SMEs) in the Tshwane area of Gauteng: 35.1% of them have matric as their highest qualification. The majority (68.6%) of these businesses are located within residential areas and operate from home, either from the house or garage. More than two thirds (68.6%) of respondents indicated that they own the property. Overall, over 60.0% indicated that they rent their business premises, compared to 39.6% who owned the premises. There is an enormous need for conceptual skills, especially in the area of marketing and sales (36.2%), financial management (23.4%) and business management (21.3%). 21.5% of the respondents indicated that they had received financial support in the past. Lack of financial support was rated as the most serious constraint facing respondents. This item received an average rating score of 4.94, compared to an average rating of only 2.22 accruing to lack of water. With an average of 4.64, the problem of high transport costs, occupies second position on the rankings with high input costs (ranking of 4.51) in third position. In conclusion the article revealed that owners and managers of small businesses are predominantly technically skilled and less skilled in the area of business management, and have limited academic qualifications.