MD Weekly Blog – It’s SNOW fun any more!
What a strange week it’s been. I was very much looking forward to coming back to work after the Christmas festivities, but all this snow has just made it a very difficult start and it even looks like we’ve got off lightly in Hertfordshire so far!
At first you don’t mind the odd bit of snow, but after a few days it just wreaks havoc on the whole country and has serious implications to many businesses and the economy in general.
I was listening to the news on Wednesday morning and they estimated that the recent snowfall could cost the UK economy as much as £690m per day. A staggering 44% of employees were estimated to have stayed at home on Tuesday and they said that we’re not necessarily over the worst of the weather yet either! Not exactly good timing during a period when we’re trying to emerge from a recession.
Predictably the retail sector is always one of the worst affected in severe weather conditions, with average footfall dramatically down in towns and shopping centres. However, I read a piece on a BBC news article that proves that it’s not all doom and gloom for everyone.
The director of operations at e-retail body IMRG said that snowy days tended to mirror the kind of online shopping levels seen on Mondays – the busiest day of the week for internet retailers.
“We saw this during the floods and previous snowfalls, partly because people are at home and a bit bored,” he said.
“Clothes and some equipment are popular, but simply with more people at home, they tend to drift towards online shopping.”
For businesses this illustrates the importance of having a separate online web strategy that is treated with equal importance to their traditional retail business.
Not so long ago I met with the MD of major UK high street retailer that has been around for over 40 years. I was very surprised to hear that they didn’t have a big interest in investing in their web strategy. Their website looks ok, but nothing more than that and their web marketing budget was practically nothing! I found it staggering that a company which has over 700 stores nationwide didn’t have a clearly defined web strategy and marketing spend. It therefore certainly came as no surprise when I saw their share price drop more than 5% earlier this week, when the snowy conditions hit retail shops hardest.
I would always strongly recommend that businesses of all sizes and sectors have a clear web strategy. Even if you business is flourishing, it’s prudent to not put all your eggs in one basket as things can quickly change.
More and more people are turning to online shopping in record numbers and this trend is certainly not set to end; especially as the next generation of internet users who live and breathe social networking and mobile technology become the big spenders of tomorrow.
One of the issues smaller companies face is having the money or technical knowledge to create a professional online shop. The good news however is that in early February we are set to announce a suite of turnkey e-commerce packages. These packages will allow our customers to create a professional looking and feature rich online shop, without the need of any technical knowledge or design skills.
If you are interested in finding out more then make sure you follow us on twitter. We will keep you informed about this impending launch and any promotional discounts that may be on offer.
To follow us visit twitter.com/LCN_com.
More from me next week.
Kind regards
Mark
