Originally written by Sam Rucker on Small Business
As lockdown eases, changes in how we do business have only just begun. One country that might be able to provide valuable insight for SMEs is Germany. Having begun lockdown easing back in April, it is already dealing with the next economic phase that small businesses in the UK will have to adapt to.
Our recent study involving SMEs in Germany reveals what Britain’s economic future might look like, and some best practices for how small UK businesses can face it head on.
Here are 4 lessons from Germany on how British SMEs can thrive post lockdown:
Re-imagine customer journeys to capture support
One silver lining to this dark cloud is the community support SMEs are currently experiencing: Pinterest, for example, recorded an increase of 351 per cent in support of small businesses.
To capitalise on that support, German respondents to the June Vimcar survey recommended ways to remodel customer journeys:
– Use social media
With people craving social interaction more than ever, social media usage has seen a 40 per cent increase. As a result, many German SMEs are feeding into #supportyourlocals and #nowopen threads.
UK businesses can also take advantage of this social media uplift and use the free
Tag Archive for Coronavirus
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Pay us within one month if you take COVID-19 cash, say small businesses
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) wants policymakers to ensure that large firms who receive Government COVID-19 financial help pay their small firm suppliers within one month.
As part of its current calls, the FSB wants to make any big corporation that receives state or Bank of England-backed finance to sign a supplier charter committing to this payment term.
It also wants it to work with the BoE to shore up supply chain finance and ensure said finance is used to pay small businesses swiftly.
The latest data from pay.uk shows that the latest sum of late payment due across the country rose 80 per cent to £23.4bn at the end of 2019.
Almost two thirds of small businesses (62 per cent) have been subject to late or frozen payments during the pandemic.
FSB’s new report, ‘Late Again: how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting payment terms for small firms’, reveals that only one in ten small business have agreed changes to payment terms with clients. That means that most of the recent examples of poor payment practices have not been formally signed off by creditors or debtors.
Despite efforts by the Government to improve procurement practices since the fall
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Google gives £25m worth of free ad spend to British small businesses
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Google has announced it is giving £25m worth of free ad spend to British small businesses as part of a wider SME help package.
Qualifying UK small businesses will be awarded up to £800 ($1,000) in ad spend grants, applied to their existing Google advertising accounts.
The gift is part of a wider package of help for British small businesses including help for getting businesses noticed in internet searches and 10,000 hours of free business mentoring for UK SMEs and charities.
>See also: Should I reduce my marketing budget due to coronavirus?
The £800 ad credit can be used for future Google ad spend, including search, display and YouTube advertising.
To qualify, small businesses must have spent through a Google Ads account in 10 out of 12 months in 2019, or in January and/or February of this year.
The ad credit must be used by December 31, 2020.
However, the headline £25m figure is being shared with Government agencies and NGOs. Google was unable to say how much has been specifically ringfenced for British small businesses.
Google itself will ascertain which customers are eligible for the free ad credit, so there is no need for you to do anything. The credit
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Are people buying or selling a business during COVID-19?
by Matt Hernon • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Matt Hernon on Small Business
As the pandemic swept the world, we were bracing ourselves for the very worst. Would anyone really want to buy or sell a business during the COVID-19 crisis? Recessions come and go but this was looking like an economic tsunami.
In the immediate aftermath of the lockdown in March, traffic to BusinessesForSale.com halved from 1.3m visitors to 700,000 in a matter of days. But the fact that there were still 1000s of business buyers searching the website looking for a business was not just a relief for us but also quite fascinating.
A massive online marketplace to buy from during COVID-19
What was going on? The answer lay in the fact that BusinessesForSale.com was a mirror of the real economy.
While businesses that were instantly shut down – such as pubs, restaurants and hotels – which saw interest suddenly fall off a cliff edge – we saw a sudden spike in enquiries to tech and e-commerce businesses as well as convenience stores, pet shops and petrol stations.
What we discovered in the next few weeks and months was a revelation. Buyers had cash and they were moving in to make quick gains – and they still are.
So, to
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How to reopen your hairdressers and barbers and post lockdown
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Government has announced that hairdressers and barbers can reopen for business on July 4 but other beauty businesses will have to wait.
Hilary Hall, chief executive of the National Hair and Beauty Foundation applauded the decision to reopen but said it had come very late in the day.
Hall said: “We are also extremely disappointed that beauty businesses are not yet allowed to reopen, and we have always emphasised that hair and beauty should reopen at the same time.”
>See also: How to reopen your restaurant, pub or hotel post-lockdown
How to reopen your hairdressers or barbers
All salons must stick to social distancing and maintain two metres between clients, or one metre with additional precautions, such as the use of screens
Face visors must be worn by practitioners for all activities. Face coverings are not an acceptable alternative to visors, but clients or staff may choose to wear an additional face covering
No walk-ins: clients must be seen by appointment only. Salon and barbershop owners will be required to keep a temporary record of all clients and visitors for 21 days to support the NHS test-and-trace system which controls outbreaks of the virus
No food or drinks to be
Hot Business News Today
Are people buying or selling a business during COVID-19?
by Matt Hernon • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Matt Hernon on Small Business
As the pandemic swept the world, we were bracing ourselves for the very worst. Would anyone really want to buy or sell a business during the COVID-19 crisis? Recessions come and go but this was looking like an economic tsunami.
In the immediate aftermath of the lockdown in March, traffic to BusinessesForSale.com halved from 1.3m visitors to 700,000 in a matter of days. But the fact that there were still 1000s of business buyers searching the website looking for a business was not just a relief for us but also quite fascinating.
A massive online marketplace to buy from during COVID-19
What was going on? The answer lay in the fact that BusinessesForSale.com was a mirror of the real economy.
While businesses that were instantly shut down – such as pubs, restaurants and hotels – which saw interest suddenly fall off a cliff edge – we saw a sudden spike in enquiries to tech and e-commerce businesses as well as convenience stores, pet shops and petrol stations.
What we discovered in the next few weeks and months was a revelation. Buyers had cash and they were moving in to make quick gains – and they still are.
So, to
Hot Business News Today
How to reopen your small business post lockdown – what we know so far
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
UPDATED: Boris Johnson has announced the gradual unlocking of small businesses across England, as the UK emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shops reopened on June 15
Pubs, hotels and restaurants will reopen on July 4
New guidance published on June 24 details how hairdressers, hotels, pubs and other small businesses in England can reopen safely from July 4.
However, other businesses including nightclubs, casinos, indoor play areas, nail bars and beauty salons and gyms will remain shut for the time being.
Announcing the changes on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said the following venues will be able to reopen from 4 July:
Pubs, bars and restaurants but only with a table service indoors, and owners will be asked to keep contact details of customers to help with contact tracing
Hotels, holiday apartments, campsites and caravan parks but shared facilities must be cleaned properly
Theatres and music halls but they will not be allowed to hold live performances
Hair salons and barbers will be able to reopen but must have protective measures, such as visors, in place
Cinemas, museums and galleries
Funfairs, theme parks, adventure parks, amusement arcades, outdoor skating rinks and model villages
Attractions with animals, such as at zoos, aquariums, farms, safari parks and wildlife centres
The
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Slash national insurance to keep small businesses hiring, says Sajid Javid
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Sajid Javid, the ex-chancellor, has thrown down the gauntlet for the Government to increase the national insurance employment allowance to £20,000 for small businesses.
Mr Javid has called for national insurance to be given a “significant temporary” reduction to make it cheaper for small businesses to take on staff.
>See also: How to reopen your restaurant, pub or hotel post-lockdown
“If we want to support and stimulate employment, then axiomatically the best option is to cut the payroll tax — employer’s national insurance,” Mr Javid said.
“Tax employment less, and all other things being equal you will end up with more of it.”
Many fear a coming tsunami of unemployment as small businesses are weaned off the Coronarius Job Retention Scheme, with the Bank of England warning of 10 per cent unemployment as Britain emerges post lockdown.
The proposal to lift the Employment Allowance ceiling is just one of scores of proposals in a paper he has written for centre-right thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, setting out measures to boost the post-Covid economy.
>See also: How to deal with a furloughed employee who refuses to return to work
The former cabinet minister, who resigned from the Treasury in February, said
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Scottish report calls for Government to take stakes in SMEs
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
A new report is asking the Scottish Government to take stakes in struggling firms, including SMEs.
The document, created by the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, makes 25 recommendations based on the thoughts and opinions of hundreds of businesses.
One of the most significant is that the government must support guaranteed employment for young people, securing two years of work at the real living wage.
Other suggestions include a ‘significant increase’ in infrastructure investment, especially in digital technologies, along with targeted measures to help the tourism and hospitality industries.
SME focused recommendations highlight sector-specific banking products for small businesses and ‘differentiated solutions’ such as re-start loans, repayment plans and new deals.
The enquiry was run by Benny Higgins, the former chief executive of Tesco. Higgins suggests that Scotland will need £6bn to revive the economy – the current limit going through the fiscal framework is £450m. Investment will need to be at least 4 per cent of financial output to be effective.
Figures show that Scotland’s GDP is down 2.5 per cent in first three months of 2020 and fell by 18.9 per cent in April.
Benny Higgins said:
“Scotland faces an economic challenge of monumental scale. If we do not
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20% of small businesses can’t reopen with social distancing in place
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Social distancing rules are stopping one in five small businesses from reopening post lockdown.
A substantial 5.7m businesses closed at the height of the pandemic and a third are still shut. From those, one in five can’t reopen with the existing two-metre rule in place and those that can will be facing significant bills, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). A quarter expect to be forking out over £1,000 to meet the social distancing guidelines.
>See also: What is the average cost of fitting out my shop for coronavirus?
The FSB is calling on the chancellor to make some changes to help these small businesses, to boost the economy and to save jobs. One such measure is vouchers that will cover the cost of making workplaces safe. Others include tax cuts, better infrastructure and flexible repayments for businesses that incurred debt during lockdown. It’s being suggested that debt should be repaid in a student loan-style scheme.
On top of that, moves like cutting National Insurance would help employers bring staff back after furlough and contributing towards apprenticeship and training costs would encourage new hires.
FSB chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “Millions of small firms and sole traders