In addition, the survey found the Great Resignation was a threat this year, as labour shortages had firms struggling to find staff for specialist and medium to high-skilled roles.
The study said Australia’s relatively healthy economy was a bright spot for exporters this year but the percentage of respondents exporting to North America, Europe and China was down.
Despite big challenges, 52 per cent of the surveyed exporters said business was up, and only 21 per cent experienced a decrease in exports this year.
“With trade growth expected to remain solid for the rest of 2022 and into 2023, exporters have indicated they are expecting a strong year ahead,” DHL and ExportNZ added.
Only 7 per cent of the hundreds of surveyed businesses expected a decrease next year.
Overwhelmingly, the cost and availability of transport and logistics was the biggest problem for exporters. More than two-thirds cited these hassles as a barrier to exporting,
About one-third said the cost of doing business in New Zealand was a barrier, and 24 per cent said the kiwi dollar’s value was a barrier. That was up from just 18 per cent last year.
“This suggests exporters are concerned with how weak the dollar is currently, as the cost of importing materials from overseas has increased significantly,” DHL added.
In years past, exporters were worried about how a high New Zealand dollar impacted export sales.
This year, the vast majority of respondents - 88 per cent - said delayed transit times and increased costs impacted supply chains in the past 12 months.
And the study said it was important to remember that passing on shipping and logistics costs was often out of the question, because that made exported products less competitive against domestic producers abroad.
The survey said only 9 per cent of respondents reduced sales prices to increase exports, suggesting most New Zealand exports were holding their value well.
Worker shortages - and skills shortages
Almost half the exporters surveyed had been advertising job vacancies for four or more months., showing the talent pool was lacking in suitable candidates.
But exporters also articulated specific skill gaps. Work readiness was an issue for 49 per cent of applicants, and literacy was not up to scratch in 19 per cent of applications.
A lack of numeracy skills was a problem in 16 per cent of cases.
Innovation breakthroughs
One way around the Covid, dollar, supply chain and labour crisis doldrums was innovation.
The survey found 44 per cent of exporters developed new products and services to help increase exports in the past 12 months.
Almost as many - 40 per cent - reported having improved business processes to deal with export challenges.
The most common answer was to hold more stock on site, with some respondents moving offices offshore to deal directly in export markets.
Almost one in three exporters were venturing into new markets this year, up from just 24 per cent last year.
Only 15 per cent of exporters implemented no new initiatives.
Offline life still important
The barometer said despite Covid forcing firms into the digital world, 65 per cent of respondents still spent less than 10 per cent of their marketing budget online.
“This may be because a significant number of exporters sell through intermediaries rather than directly to the consumer via online tools,” DHL and ExportNZ added.
Competition for eyeballs and orders was intense - with an increasingly close battle between company home pages and social media platforms.
For three years now, businesses have cited Facebook as the best platform for getting online orders or enquiries, followed by Instagram, then LinkedIn.
But business websites were still ahead of social media platforms as the best place to land orders or enquiries.
“But the margins are not wide, as 36 per cent of respondents cited their website as the main platform for generating orders, compared with 24 per cent who cited Facebook,” the exporter survey added.
Government help
Only 21 per cent of the exporters said they needed no help from the Government.
When asked what long-term government assistance would help, a quarter of respondents cited ease of international travel for foreign business partners and specialist experts.
Answers to that set of survey questions were provided in August, and since then some firms might have noticed an easing of restrictions and more incoming flights.
Almost a quarter of respondents wanted more support to attend trade shows. And 23 per cent wanted New Zealand to keep negotiating and signing free trade agreements with new partners.
And when nothing else worked, some exporters just prayed or hoped.
“One respondent cited their tactic to increase exports has been to cross their fingers and hope for the best,” the survey added.
