WPCC Welcome Document

What we do -

It's all for you.

ABOUT

The Western Port Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. is a volunteer group of representatives from local businesses who promote the town as a destination, run our community events, advocate on behalf of local traders and provide training and support to them It is a committee of people who are your fellow Hastings community business owners

The Chamber’s committee of volunteers give their time, expertise and experience to make a contribution to the success of Hastings In addition to the volunteers, a coordinator is contracted on a part time basis to facilitate the work of the Chamber being carried out.

The Chamber’s objectives are to:

Increase the exposure of Hastings businesses and the area in general to current and potential customers/clients

Represent and advocate on behalf of local businesses and traders in working and discussions with local government and other stakeholders

Support the precinct traders through business development initiatives such as workshops, training sessions, mentoring and networking opportunities.

Promote a unique sense of community in Hastings.

Current Committ

President - Jason Dowler ( Secretary and Vice Presid (Petersen’s Bookstore)

Treasurer - Nicky Edwards Bookkeeping)

Marketing & Management

General Committee Memb

We encourage our business our committee meetings a participating we have an o Hastings to an even more v arts, performances, busines and much more

Note: Committee members

Special Charge Scheme

WHAT IS A PROMOTIONAL FUND?

A promotional fund is a rate or charge of money collected on behalf of a Chamber of Commerce by a council (in our case the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council) from property and/or business owners within a specified geographic area (scheme boundary)

The collective funds charged to property and business owners within Hastings are then managed and expended by the Westernport Chamber of Commerce, which is your representative Business Association, for the purposes of marketing, promotions, representation, management and business development

The fund’s purpose is two-fold - to benefit the town in order for us all to ultimately benefit, and secondly to provide business development support to traders, in order for them to thrive and get the most out of their business.

Hastings has had a promotional fund for the past 17 years The current promotional scheme collects approximately $64,000 per annum from approximately 150 businesses and property owners

Special Charge Scheme

General Promotional Fund

INFORMATION

There are at least 70 Victorian strip shopping centres operating under promotional levies and special charge schemes, much like Hastings

These schemes are considered a ‘best practice’ approach, enabling these small, independent traders to benefit from the power of collective representation and funding to operate in a similar way to those inside businesses “hard-top” shopping centres.

Amounts collected in Victorian schemes, range from as little as $50,000 to as much as $500,000 per annum, with the general purpose to collectively market and promote the business areas, whilst providing support and a collective voice for the traders represented

OPT-IN MEMBERSHIPS

Whilst the Chamber of Commerce operates with a focus of collectively marketing and promoting the businesses within the Special Charge Scheme area, other businesses within the local area are welcome to join as opt-in members These members can also benefit from access to training, networking, support and town wide promotions

2020 TO 2027 SCHEME – KEY FEATURES

No charge for the first half of the 2020-2021 financial year, a decision made by the Chamber committee to assist small businesses in light of the COVID-19 situation and long-term lockdown

A reduction on the previous scheme charges for businesses fronting High Street and those in other areas, excluding those businesses with a land size of 1600sqm or more

Charges fixed for the first two years of the scheme

Reduced opt-in member fee to increase membership from those outside the scheme boundary (currently set at $100 for the 2021-2022 financial year)

Focus on development and implementation of shop local initiatives

Focus on business development, training, mentoring and networking

Continued strong representation and advocacy to council on the on-going streetscape project

Introduce co-working initiatives to increase small business interest and presence in the High Street area and potentially add a new income stream for the Chamber

Implement programs to improve the aesthetic of the town including graffiti removal, beautification of empty premises.

Further engagement and cooperation with other local groups, organisations and Chambers to leverage any opportunities that may have synergies for the benefit of our members and the local community as a whole

Your fee supports..

CO-ORDINATION

33% of fees go towards co-ordinating all the responsibilities of the Chamber. We help improve local business environments, strengthen community realationships through advocacy, netweorking and campaigning. We also acy as the communication line for our business owners to connect with governing bodies. We also create our Easter & Christmas celebrations and work to create helpful events for our business owners.

WEBSITES & SOCIALS

This year, 13% of fees went towards a new website & social launch that created a directory for all businesses who are part of the WPCC.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

This year, 19% of fees went towards our new Christmas trees & decorations. This provided the street with wonderful Christmas spirit and brightened the streetscape through the holiday period. We purchased 40 artificial trees that we can now keep for each years celebration.

SIGNAGE & DIRECTORIES

9% of fees goes towards organising and installing signage and directories for the local area - including our wonderful new Pelican sign on the roundabout in town!

INITIATIVES

9% of fees went towards our amazing new photography initiative that allowed us to photograph more than 50 WPCC business members This helped grow both the businesses and WPCC socials, website and marketing!

PROMOTIONS & DONATIONS

4% of fees go towards a variety of promotions & donations that take place to help promote the township and shopping local - such as our Shop Local initiative that took place in 2021-2022, whilst also donating to various causes.

COUNCIL

FEES

8% of fees go towards a variety of council fees that required throughout the year to be paid by WPCC

ACCOUNTING

3% of fees go towards the accounting fees that including mandatory auditing for the EOFY and the AGM meeting each year

MEETINGS& AGM

2% of fees help organise and facilitate all the required committee meetings as well as the AGM at the end of each year This ensures that our committee stays engaged and conscious of spendings and deliveries to our community

NB.

These percentages are accurate at the time of printing and may fluctuate depending on the WPCC needs for executing various events, promotions and funding.

Marketing & Promotions

A new website was developed for the Chamber in 2022 by local business with a B2C and a B2B communication platform in mind The new design not only allows for a better user experience, but also allows for each of our members to individualise their own details within the directory Each business can individually login and change their details, specials, sales and more, through the backend of the website. Details to do so can be provided by the Chamber with step by step instructions

TRADER LOGIN DETAILS.

When you become a member of the WPCC, you will be able to log in to the www hastings org au website to upload your own information, logo, contact details, sales, etc

To have these steps, please email us at info@hastings org au and we can send over the Step By Step process for you to follow and then update your business details Please keep these up-to-date to ensure that all our traders details are correct for visitors of our website who regularly search our website for traders information.

Social Marketing

Social media is the leading marketing strategy within the advertising industry in 2023 To ensure that Hastings has a platform that showcases not only the businesses on offer, but also the opportunities to do, create, visit and participate

By creating the Love Hastings Love Local page, we have been able to create a platform to share our members and all that Hastings has to offer

in 2023 we will re-brand the logo design as well as giving the entire concept a facelift to help bring more digital traffic to both this platform and those of our WPCC businesses

Socials Re-brand

@LOVEHASTINGSLOVELOCAL

At the start of 2023, WPCC made the decision to grow the social branding behind the Chamber. It is our aim to ensure that there is a support social page for locals, visitors and traders to visit to see new and existing stores, sales, events & art that all showcase and support our wonderful traders

To do this, a complete re-brand was undertaken of the @lovehastingslovelocal social tag We have many future plans to implement this across a variety of formats and look forward to showing you more in the future

LOVELOCA L HASTINGS

Promotions & Events

33% of fees go towards co-ordinating all the responsibilities of the Chamber. This includes general organisation, through to Easter & Christmas Celebrations that are done for the entire town and also organising all Government Grants for the community

The Chamber received a grant from the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to hold the community Christmas carols in Hastings for the 3 years, from 2018. In 2019 the carols were held in conjunction with a Christmas market which preceded the performances. The introduction of a market not only made the event a more interesting and inclusive one for the community, but importantly provided our traders an opportunity to be involved and directly benefit Given CO-VID restrictions last year, the Carols were not able to be held, with the Chamber Committee agreeing to provide the money towards the combined Mornington Peninsula Carols by Headlights event, which was held at the Dromana Drive-In

CAROLS BY THE BAY

Decorations

CHRISTMAS

In 2021 and 2022, the Chamber opted to increase the Christmas decorations that had aged and become outdated By adding to the street decorations, we were able to ensure that the entire street was festive and engaging for all High St traffic In 2022 we invested in 40 high quality artificial Christmas trees that we can use again and again each year The 2022 layout was wonderful and engaging for all and the feedback from the public was fantastic We are looking forward to increasing our decorations in the coming year!

Street Amenities & Infrastructure

HASTINGS STREETSCAPE RENEWAL PROJECT

The Mornington Peninsula Shire has successfully obtained partial funding through the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Growing Suburbs Fund for the streetscape renewal of High Street Hastings from Queen Street to Marine Parade.

The streetscape redevelopment works will be carried out in accordance with the High Street Hastings, Streetscape Design Framework

The works include:

New Streetscape Works High Street, from Queen Street to Marine Parade Laneway Revitalisation, (per Hastings Activity Centre Laneways Strategy)

Car park construction 30-34 King Street & 35 King Street

Replacement of public toilet facility King Street