smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

High streets are the front line of the recession and casualties are mounting. Shops that have been around for years vanish overnight, while others suffer the ignominy of a protracted closing down sale.
 
A Books etc near where I live is chaos personified. Boy band calendars are positioned next to cult novels, chick lit and a plastic contraption designed to give you perfect, sculpted abs. The young, educated staff mooch around, understandably unimpressed at the changes. The shop's pretence of literary cool has been usurped by the “pile it high and sell it cheap” trashiness of a pound shop.
 
The sight of so many businesses struggling makes the festive cheer of the high street seem especially forced. It’s widely suggested that this Christmas is going to be as hard as last year for retailers, if not harder.
 
Naturally, the temptation will be to slash prices to entice customers, but clearly that could be disastrous for margins (in the long run). Likewise, no one wants to over order and be lumbered with stock come the New Year, or hire extra staff who sit around idly sending text messages.

The web continues to defy the recession and buck retail trends. Online sales were up 14 per cent on the previous year for December 2008 and price conscious shoppers continue to prefer the web in 2009
 
Alan Braithwaite, chairman of LCP Consulting and visiting professor at Cranfield University, says: ‘No one with a reasonable retail presence can afford not to use it. A website reinstates your brand and means you can interact with the customer through a variety of channels.’  
     
It’s often said, but there are still too many smaller businesses ignoring the web and its potential to augment sales. That’s not to say that having a website is a guaranteed money-spinner. Website design and marketing online need careful consideration. Moreover, price comparison websites will leave you out of the running if you’re not keeping pace with the best deals.
 
In a recent poll on SmallBusiness.co.uk, 42 per cent of you said that customer service is  the main focus for you this Christmas. That’s as it should be and there will be companies that do get it right over the next six weeks and are nicely positioned to prosper in 2010.
 
But for the majority, there will be little room for error. Says Braithwaite: ‘I think this Christmas will be better than the worst predictions, but it’s not going to be exciting. I’d expect it to be flat or down on last year and a lot of retailers will, and should be, budgeting on that basis.’