Keeping Business Local
Posted February 25th, 2010 | No Comments
Authorized Access!! A local business, employing local people, serving local people for over 20 years…
Information taken from the ‘Federation Of Small Businesses’ Website suggests that the House Of Commons All-Party Small Shops Group estimates that there will be no independent retailers by 2015!
Apparently for the past three years small independent shops have been closing at a rate of 5000 per year, in the UK. This has risen alarmingly in 2009, when 25,000 small shops, which represents 10% of the total, closed in the first nine months of the year and there are another 50,000 shops teetering on the brink of extinction.
Is it the recession that’s responsible for this phenomenon, or is there a more sinister explanation? Is it inevitable in modern times that price will be the prime consideration when making a buying decision?
Small independent local businesses will never be able to compete on price with large national companies who take advantage of economies of scale or internet based micro businesses whose overheads are so much lower than those borne on the high street.
Service is the key to retaining customers and while small local businesses ignore that fact they give more power to the anonymous ‘big boys’ to drive nails into their coffins. Promise to look after your customer, whatever it takes and you stand a chance of postponing what too many people seem to believe to be the inevitable.
We at Authorized Access know that we do our very best for our customers, we don’t always get it right but we always aim to put it right if things don’t initially go to plan. Our staff are all highly trained, with a recognised qualification in Customer Service, as well as being qualified in their field of expertise.