Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:00:05] Is physical retail really booming again? And separately, what can family businesses teach us about longevity? In this episode, CEO of the Family Business Association, Catherine Sayer, joins me to share insights on governance, communication, succession and how successful family enterprises modernize without losing their DNA. She also explores the power of next generation thinking and innovation. Then Vicki Leavy, general manager of JMK Retail, explains the surprising shift back to in-store shopping. Vicky tells us why human connection still matters throughout the shopping experience, and walks me through the overlooked fundamentals that keep customers coming back to bricks and mortar retail. From SoundCartel. I’m Grace Jennings-Edquist and this is Business Essentials. Our first guest is CEO of the Family Business Association, Catherine Sayer.
Key challenges and wins for family businesses in 2026
Family businesses make up the backbone of the Australian economy, but they face unique pressures most companies never encounter. In this conversation, Catherine Sayer outlines how these enterprises are balancing family dynamics with performance in 2026. She also explains how they’re navigating succession planning and how family businesses can navigate innovation bought in by the younger generations. But first, it’s well known that many family businesses struggle to separate the dinner table from the boardroom. So I kicked off the interview by asking Catherine what practical strategies work best for maintaining healthy family relationships while still running a disciplined, high performing business?
Catherine Sayer: [00:01:41] Family businesses come in all shapes and sizes, multi-generational, single generation, all sorts of things. So there’s probably not one particular answer to that question. But I think one of the things that I really observe with family businesses is really good communication. And increasingly what I’m seeing is organisations or family businesses that have good governance and good structure and good rules of engagement, whether they have a family council, whether they have a board or advisory board, what are the rules? What’s their constitution? What’s their charter? And I think that’s one of the really good things is, you know, invariably if you’re sitting around the Christmas lunch or even just at a dinner with family, often business will come up. But interestingly, if you’re sitting around that table and some family members aren’t in the business and some are, that presents all sorts of interesting idiosyncrasies. So it’s really every family is different and they look at things differently. And again, the structure of a family, if everyone if it’s a husband and wife and a son or daughter in the business and they’re all having dinner together, well, that conversation is going to be a whole lot different than if there’s cousins or aunts and uncles or other siblings who aren’t in the business. But I think clear rules around how you want to behave as a family in social time versus in work time is something that I do see quite a lot of.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:03:04] It sounds certainly like a very good idea. Clear rules set out in advance.
Catherine Sayer: [00:03:09] Yes. No nasty surprises.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:03:11] Very good plan. So growth often forces change in businesses. How can family businesses scale or expand while staying true to their founding values and long term family vision?
Catherine Sayer: [00:03:22] So values is a really key part of a lot of family businesses. You know, it can be go from one generation to the next to the next, where they have these really core values of who are they? How do they do things. And so that’s really interesting when you think about the legacy piece of 2 or 3 generations ago, maybe even 5 or 6 generations ago, and what the values of that family business were then and what they are now. Now, clearly over time, they evolve. So they need to stay within, you know, keep up to date, keep contemporary. But what you do find is that culture of what the values are is sustainable through many generations, because that’s kind of their DNA and who they are. So growth, obviously, you know, you go from one generation to the next to the next potentially and thereafter. And so every generation is a bit different. So there’s sort of the interesting thing there is we’ve seen a lot of growth in family businesses from the last generation to this generation, and that presents a whole lot of challenges and growing pains and all sorts of other things that all businesses face. The tension, of course, can often be between that generation and the next generation in terms of how they want to do things. So I think they stick to their vision very consistently, which is great, and their values and their culture, and then sort of work through those growing pains.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:04:49] So tradition can be a strength, but also a constraint. So how can long established family. Businesses modernise and stay competitive without losing their heritage or core identity.
Catherine Sayer: [00:05:00] Well, it’s really interesting if you think of some of the best known brands in Australia and even across the world, they are family businesses. The Edelman Trust Barometer says that 70% of consumers prefer family businesses over any other type of business. So there’s a really distinct loyalty trust that consumers have with family businesses. And if you think about how some of those long standing brands and we’re talking generations have evolved, and there’s plenty of them, you look at if you’re talking about food, you look at the supermarket shelves and you see all those family businesses that have evolved over the years with their branding, with their story. Every family business has a fantastic story to tell, so they hang on to their heritage by their storytelling, by, you know, what their culture and DNA is like. We talked about before and they really make the most of it. So consumers love stories. There’s so many great stories about successful family businesses. And so they have the best of both worlds where they are innovative. And certainly the next generation coming through are hugely innovative. They’ve got great ideas. They’re very modern in their thinking, but they often have a very strong respect for the legacy of the business. And, you know, many, many family businesses have very strong brands in the marketplace.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:06:21] So from your work across the sector, I wonder what lessons do successful Australian family businesses consistently get right when planning for sustainable growth?
Catherine Sayer: [00:06:29] I think the number one thing is good communication and I think communicate, communicate, communicate. And one of the things that family businesses do well is when they do succession well. So if it’s from one generation to the next, if those conversations aren’t held from an early age where, you know, let’s talk through how this is actually going to look into the future. What happens is all of a sudden, there might be some sort of event of some description, a health event, a divorce, a death or something like that. And if there’s no plans in place, then things invariably go wrong. If there’s lots of good plans in place, because they’ve been talking about it for years and this is how it’s all going to play out. It can be quite a smooth transition. So the communication early is one of the really key things and it’s often an uncomfortable conversation. But once you start it, it becomes more comfortable.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:07:25] Thank you. And you mentioned the next generation. Which brings me to my next question. So younger generations often bring fresh ideas and digital skills. What are some effective ways families can encourage entrepreneurship and innovation from the next generation while keeping everyone aligned? Still.
Catherine Sayer: [00:07:41] It’s really about having an open mind. We all know that next generation coming through are digital natives. They are embracing AI in a way that older generations might find it a bit more challenging. So having the open mind gives you the best of both worlds. You’ve got the wise heads of those elder statesmen stateswomen generations. And yet, if you give the opportunity to the next gen to flourish and bring their ideas, you can potentially bring the two together and get the best of both worlds. So I’m really noticing a great desire and hunger to lead that next generation coming through. And you know, whether it’s technology, whether it’s leadership, whatever it is, it’s motivating them. They have an enormous respect for the heritage and the history, but they’ve got so much energy and ideas and, you know, opportunities are boundless. And so it’s fantastic to see great family businesses working together with the older generation, allowing the next gen to explore and really be the next frontier, potentially for the business. So there’s lots of great examples of that around the place where that next gen is coming through and really being innovative and entrepreneurial. And we’re very much focusing on emerging leaders in our FBA as well. We have an Emerging Leaders Forum group, and we’ve had a couple of them launch in New South Wales and Victoria, and we’re looking at other states, and that’s all about supporting them in their leadership experience.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:09:13] That was Catherine Sayer, CEO of Family Business Association.
Is physical retail really “thriving again”?
Now we shift gears to discuss how physical retail is booming again. Yes. That’s right. For years, we’ve heard that bricks and mortar retail was in terminal decline. But general manager of JMK Retail Vicki Leavy says the story is changing. Vicki joins me to unpack what’s really happening in shopping centres and why customers are returning in store. She also talks us through what retailers must get right in 2026 to keep shoppers coming back. I started by asking Vicky, from what she’s seeing on the ground, what is actually driving the resurgence of physical retail across Australia right now?
Vicki Leavy: [00:09:57] Well, I think it’s just that we’re humans. We desire to be out about connect with people and we’re certainly seeing it. The Christmas peak has been enormous. We’ve actually seen a drop back in the majors with online sales and a growth of in-store sales. So just basing that off of year on year, we’ve actually seen this big shift and online sales took a very significant step backwards in my centers at any rate. So early days, I think post Covid, I think there was this whole everyone explored the online shopping world, if you want to call it that. And there became, I guess, a complacency and an ease with getting something delivered. But obviously online shopping has its problems as well. And most of it is that you can’t touch feel you can’t see what you’re actually getting. So that disappointment at the unboxing of, oh, I didn’t think that fabric was like that. I didn’t think this was that. And then, you know, size is not fitting because our standards across particularly fashion and footwear aren’t consistent. So you can buy, you know, the same product and get a different size and a different shape. So I think the actual satisfaction and the experience of being in store, being part of it, getting that feeling that you’re part of something and someone across the counter and saying, you know, hi, Grace. Nice to see you back. You know what’s happening? How are the kids? Oh, you don’t have the children today. All of that kind of connection is really important for people’s mental health.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:11:49] Yeah, I think you make a really good point. And I can certainly relate especially to the feeling of getting a pair of shoes or something I bought online, and it’s immediately apparent they don’t fit. And then I have to make the trek back and I’ve got all this packaging. So absolutely good points. Vicky, I’ve heard it said that retail today is about more than transactions and you did touch on this, but it is about also experiences. What kind of in-centre experiences do you think are moving the needle on foot traffic and customer loyalty.
Vicki Leavy: [00:12:17] I guess. Can I take a step back with that? And just every asset class is quite different. And you know, obviously you’re shopping for a different reason. So there’s that sort of idea of something. It’s also understanding your demographic. So say a neighbourhood centre in a really well established area, which has lots of empty nesters progressing into retirement will be very different to a new area which has got lots of young families. So what you do in centre will be quite dramatically different, but it’s all about understanding your asset, understanding your customer and making bespoke events, activations and experiences suit that demographic. And we find things like engaging with local charities, local schools to really make it quite personal. Doing random acts of kindness. So they’re not something that even it’s more a one on one. You know, we have days where we just hand out, you know, a chocolate bar and our team, our marketing team will just sit down with one of the older customers. And often times it can be the first time they’ve spoken to someone. Not only that day, but in days. So it’s really about connecting and making sure that connection connects with your demographic.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:13:49] It sounds to me like community engagement seems quite central to Jmc’s retail strategy. Why has belonging or a sense of belonging become such a powerful commercial driver for shopping centers, do you think?
Vicki Leavy: [00:14:00] Well, I think it’s a human driver like we all want it. And if that’s what you want from your day to day experience, why can’t your shopping center, which is where, you know, you spend a lot of your time, you know, if you’ve got nothing to do, what do you do? I’ll go to the shopping center. If it’s too hot, you’ll go to the shopping center because the ambient temperature is really pleasant, you’ll duck down. Supermarkets are now the glorified corner store. You know, we have customers who’ll shop maybe 2 or 3 times a day because they’ve got the milk or forgot the coffee. So there’s so many reasons for a shopping centre to be part of someone’s life. So you’ve got to put the human touch on it. You’ve got to make it. Retail is about human interaction. It’s not just about, you know, a transactional. Action. It’s actually more than that. It’s hospitality. It’s being retail. It’s understanding who that person is on the other side of the counter. And that is what is really making the difference.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:15:10] Obviously, online retail isn’t going away. It’s still big in a lot of ways, but where is it that physical centers have an advantage that e-commerce just can’t replicate?
Vicki Leavy: [00:15:20] Look, once again, it comes back to that human interaction. It’s actually physically being able to see, touch, understand how something will work. You know, we all know that the color spectrum on your computer is not entirely accurate, particularly the home PCs or your handheld devices. They’re inaccurate. So you might order a, you know, a hot pink outfit and you get it and it’s brown. You know, there’s that level of disappointment and there’s nothing worse when you’ve spent hard earned money on something and you get it and it’s like, yeah, here’s an interesting one. I had someone contact our leasing guys about a business that is designed around people not wanting to return stuff from online purchases. So there’s a new business that’s coming out of people’s apathy, disappointment. You know, if you don’t get it right, it’s an annoyance, okay. You can often with some of the bigger guys, go to your local shopping centre again and return it. But oftentimes these are things are offshore. It’s not as easy as turning the bag inside out and posting it back. It becomes a task and people just don’t want to do it. So I think it will never get right. It will always be fabulous for some people, but you just can’t beat traditional retail. It’s exciting. It changes.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:16:52] Absolutely. This leads into my next question. You’ve talked about, you know, the idea of being a retailer where people are not sending things back. What else should retailers and centre operators focus on in 2026 to sustain momentum and keep customers coming back all year round?
Vicki Leavy: [00:17:09] Well, it’s got to be exciting. It’s got to be interesting. But I think it also has to hit all the fundamentals. And running a retail operation isn’t. Bye. Good luck. You know it’s not an easy thing. You know you have to get all the basics which is cleanliness, security, maintenance, making sure that everything, you know, the lines are painted, all of these things that a customer has no clue about. But if they’re not right, you’ll tweak. Individual shop owners have to keep their class clean. They have to keep flies out of their displays. They have to change their displays, change their light fittings, making sure the light levels are bright and clean. There’s no dirty marks, all of those sort of things that general housekeeping needs to be addressed. That’s a given. Then you have to understand who your customer is, and you have to actually understand who they are intimately to actually meet their needs. Now an older generation, it’s very important where they go that it’s safe, easy to get in and out of the shopping center. They must feel safe. So, you know, lots of young kids with their bikes sort of being dumped around can make them feel uncomfortable. The young kids are having a great time, but for another customer, it’s going against their grain. So it’s really you have to be very considered. You have to look at your asset like you’re seeing it with fresh eyes. And if you have to be your worst critic, you have to be the person who goes, that’s not good enough. This isn’t good enough. This glass needs to be cleaned. My floors need to be done every day. Not every second day. You know, all of those sort of little things. We need a new paint job. We actually need to invest some serious money into our business because customers won’t say, I’m not going there because of that reason. They just get the ink and don’t want to go back, and you don’t want your customers to have the ink.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:19:20] No, it’s so true and really well put. Vicky, is there anything else that you’d like to add about physical retail thriving again? Anything else on this topic I haven’t touched on while I’ve got you?
Vicki Leavy: [00:19:29] Look, I think the thing is that you’ve got to love what you do, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s an asset owner. A shopping centre manager. Just a casual going to work. You’ve actually got to like people because retail is a people’s business. And if you don’t like people, try a different business.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:19:52] That was Vicki Leavy, general manager of JMK Retail. Thanks for joining us for this week’s episode. Follow Business Essentials Podcast across social media and head to www.BusinessEssentialsPodcast.au for more. Business Essentials is a SoundCartel podcast. Producers are Nick Schildberger, Nicole Goodman and myself. Technical production is by Pete Letts. I’m Grace Jennings-Edquist thanks for listening. We’ll bring you more business essentials next week.
