Monthly Archives: April 2021

According to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) latest Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure, inflation recorded at 3% last month, the same as what was recorded in the month of September.
However, the figure expected to rise around 3.1% in the month, according to forecasters polled prior to the ONS releasing the latest figure today, which would have forced Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney to write a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond explaining why inflation is so high.
The government has an inflation target of 2% with protocol dictating that the BoE must contact the Chancellor if inflation exceeds 3% or falls short of 1%.
The BoE expects CPI to peak at around 3.2% in the autumn.
The news came just after the interest rates were raised to 0.5% earlier this month and with soaring inflation adding more pressure to UK households grappling with sluggish wage growth.
Since last year’s Brexit referendum, the surge in

According to Springboard and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) data footfall fell 2% coming below the 3 month average decline of 1.4% and nudging the post referendum 2.3% slump.
The East of was the only region where the footfall growth can be seen over the period rising by 1% and marking the eleventh quarter of consecutive growth.
There is a drop of 1.5% in the high street footfall of East Midlands slowing from 2.8% decline seen a month prior. The only areas to experience high street growth up 1.4% and 0.6% were East and Wales respectively.
“Both high streets and shopping centres are clearly under pressure, with footfall during retail trading hours dropping by more than -3 per cent in each,” Springboard’s marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle said.
The fact that retail park footfall slipped into negative territory – even at daytime hours whilst prior to November recording seven consecutive months of growth, which clearly gives evidenc

According to shopping and comparison website MySupermarket’s an average monthly Groceries Tracker found the price of a basket containing 35 popular items came to £85.22 when compared to the previous month‘s £84.90.
Overall, there is an increase in cost of 16 products, 18 decreased and 2 items stayed at the same price.
Comparing October this year to same period last year, the same basket of goods costs £1.94 more on average which equates to a 2% year on year increase.
The latest Groceries Tracker was released just a week after BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, which indicated that overall shop prices decreased at their slowest rate in 4 years during October at just -0.1%.
BRC-Nielsen found that food prices continued to remain in inflation territory with a 2.2% increase.
MySupermarket’s tracker found the price of an average basket of goods up by the trolley staples such as onions and toilet rolls. Savings were possible on seasonal items in

The towns which have received a portion of the £1.2 million grant in 2012 have lost nearly 1000 shops according to The Telegraph.
According to Local Data Company, the closures were in line with the rest of the country. One in five stores closes their shutters.
Mary Portas has accused the government of using her “Save the High Street” campaign as a PR tool, alluding efforts being made to support her when no policies had been created.
She told to The Telegraph that “It feels like there was this great splash from government, which they were getting behind businesses. But they can’t say that and then treble rates – they need to think about the effects on business”.
“We need real policy change. Business needs to be at the heart of planning as the government decides what kind of country we want to live in because the high street is the heart of every community. With rising wages and increased import costs rates is the one area that can be sorted

According to the data from YouGov and Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr), the Index of Consumer Confidence stood at 109.3, up from 108.7 in the month of September and marking the highest score since March.
“Consumer confidence continues on its upward trend. While more number of people than not expect to be worse off in a year’s time, that gap has narrowed,” according to YouGov head of reports Stephen Harmston.
Further to this, more business activity seen by the employees. The news is offset somewhat by house owners and believes that the value of their properties has decreased.
Consumer confidence yet to return to pre-referendum levels, confidence over forward looking household finances has jumped to 94.0 from 92.3 highest since September 2016.
This contrasts from the CBI with today’s sales figures. It shows a level of decline which is not seen since 2009.

The retail EPOS systems help your inventory and facilitate transactions with the customers and vendors. It mechanizes your purchase orders to maintain a record of employee working hours and wages apart from this you can have a detail track record of inventory stock, profit and loss margins. You can even have the track of top selling items, can sell and redeem gift cards and loyalty plans. Items can be scanned with a barcode scanner. You can also print your own barcodes for items which don’t come with their own barcodes. There is a need to maintain the stock levels as per the customer’s choice. Increase sales through customer demands and also from seasonal and promotional activities. Reduce wastage and improve compliance. Get data on demand from branches and Head Office based on real time reports. An important feature of the retail EPOS system, as it comes with all in one capability of scaling. It may be a single till one branch store or a business with multiple branches with any num

Loyal Customers

Do you have loyal customers? As a restaurateur, it is important to understand that without loyal customers, you will struggle to generate a sufficient number of sales. During the early stages of your restaurant, you will rely on the repeat purchases of your loyal customers to generate a sufficient profit. You should ensure that your staff are able to effectively deal with all of your customer’s queries and are willing to go beyond their job roles to satisfy the needs of your customers. This will allow your customers to enjoy their experience in your restaurant which will encourage them to return to your restaurant. Are your staff trained? In order to maximise the quality of your customer service, you should ensure that your customers are trained to serve customers effectively. This will enable your staff to provide customers with a more enjoyable experience in your restaurant. This will encourage your customers to become loyal as you will be able to satisfy t

Advantages

Established Name

Do you have a name for your restaurant yet? One benefit of becoming a franchisee is that you will operate under the franchise’s name. Potential customers will recognise your name and will know that your food will be of a high quality and that they will enjoy your food. This shows that becoming a franchisee will enable you to encourage a larger number of customers to visit your restaurant. If you register as a franchisee under a well-known name e.g. McDonald’s, you will have a substantial customer base which will lead to more customers visiting your restaurant. This proves that becoming a franchisee will give you the opportunity to significantly increase your sales.

Financing

If you decide to become a franchisee, you will be given financial support to open your restaurant. This will put less pressure on you to raise the funds to open your restaurant and pay for the start-up costs of you

Lack of Confidence

Are your customers confident in your products? As a business owner, it is crucial that you do not regularly place discounts on a certain product. This will show your customers that you are not confident in your product. It will also display your products as low quality. This will lead to the customers thinking that your products are discounted for a reason which will deter them from purchasing the product. This shows that offering regular discounts will limit the sales of your restaurant.

Customers will expect the same price next time

As a business owner, it is important to understand that offering discounts will be effective in luring your customer in and will encourage them to purchase the product. However, when they return to your store, they will expect to pay the same price. This will lead to them not wanting to purchase your product as they will not believe that the product is worth the original price. This shows that offering

Advantages

Enjoyable Customer Experience

Are your customers tired of hearing screaming children? When families eat in your restaurant, they are likely to cause disruptions due to children making noise and misbehaving. This will disrupt your diners and will lead to them being unable to relax while they are eating. If your customers are regularly disrupted while they are eating, they will be unlikely to return to your restaurant. If you made your restaurant adult only, you would remove the loud noise of children which will enable your restaurant to have a calmer atmosphere. Your diners will be able to relax while eating their meals which will lead to them having an enjoyable experience in your restaurant. This will keep a smile on your customer’s face, which will encourage your customers to become loyal and regularly visit your establishment. If your restaurant becomes adult only, you will have the opportunity to increase the sales and p