Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The impact of COVID-19 has brought about so many changes for businesses. One of the main changes we’ve seen for restaurant and pub businesses is moving towards takeaway orders.
Data from Kantar shows that deliveries surged in the week leading up to the first lockdown (March 16-22), with delivery trips up 57 per cent year on year.
According to MCA’s Channel Pulse survey (from April 6-12), the average frequency that people used takeaway delivery was 2.3 times that week.
“There have been several success stories to come from the hardship that this year has brought to the hospitality, events, and catering industry, but the biggest, in my opinion, has been the rise of takeaway,” said Charlie Dean, managing director at packaging firm, Catering24.
Not only has it kept a number of our businesses afloat during this most difficult of times, but it has increased the quality of the market to a level we have not seen before.”
In this article we’ll be looking at how you can pivot your pub or restaurant to a takeaway model and what considerations you need to factor in before you make the shift.
What you need in order to refocus your pub or
Tag Archive for Finding and selling to customers
Hot Business News Today
Five ways to add value to retain your customers
by aileenallkins • • 0 Comments
Originally written by aileenallkins on Small Business
As a business owner, your customers are your most important asset. These customers can be your biggest champions or harshest critics, with both sides of the coin equally important for business development and long-term success. Knowing how to retain customers is crucial. Ultimately, your customer base will drive financial revenue, making customer service a crucial investment for any company: a massive 96 per cent of customers state they would avoid a business as a result of bad customer service.
Attracting new customers is often seen as the key to helping a business thrive. Yet while keeping the customer pipeline healthy is of course important, there is a flip side to this: understanding the value of the customers you already have. Retention is far cheaper than acquisition, with a recent study showing that converting and onboarding new customers can cost up to seven times more than maintaining those already on your books.
Whilst the excitement of new customers might bring a buzz to your business, a high churn rate fails to recognise the long-term value of loyalty. Refining your customer service offering to improve retention will result in a highly engaged customer base, who are more likely
Hot Business News Today
What does selling look like for SMEs in the ‘new normal’ of 2020?
by Partner Content • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Partner Content on Small Business
Not since the financial crash of 2008 have SMEs faced such a daunting landscape to sell in. With many organisations furloughing staff and shutting up shop, waiting for the worst of the storm to pass, forecasts and plans for 2020 are hastily being re-evaluated. So what does this mean for sales staff and small business owners who are involved with selling their product/service?
Budgets will be adjusted; marketing teams will be demanding increased ROI before committing to any investment; buyers will be less accessible; many owners will be in survival mode. Your sales team will need to be sharper, more flexible and more effective than ever before. They will also need to be empathetic, re-evaluating proposals with prospects that will most likely have changed from 80 per cent chance of success, to 80 per cent chance of failure. The need for highly skilled sales staff is clear.
The need for high quality training has never been more evident.
Worryingly, The Objective Management Group assessed over one million sales professionals worldwide a couple of years ago and released an incredible study. It demonstrated that:
74 per cent of all salespeople are weak/ineffective sellers
Only 7 per cent of sales
Hot Business News Today
How to customise your website to sell more overseas
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The benefit of a highly functional website that’s easy to navigate and is accessible from anywhere in the world is that it’s never been easier to sell overseas. But for those that want to enter overseas markets as part of their wider strategy, a website needs to do more than simply load quickly, be secure and look smart.
Figures from 2018 show that the UK exports £656.5bn of goods and services, making international business a lucrative area for many. But if you’re welcoming people from around the world to buy from or use your website, they must be able to relate to the content, understand it, and also find the website when they’re searching online for your product or service. As such, your digital platforms need to be relevant for your target audience and the territory they’re in.
How to use your website to sell overseas
Achieving this effectively requires more than a simple, literal translation of your website’s content. Making your online business truly international requires an analysis of your messaging, content, understanding of SEO, and a willingness to apply your learnings to other digital forums to continue growing your presence overseas.
Here, we share the
Hot Business News Today
Strong Customer Authentication requirements: what you need to know
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Background to SCA and PSD2
The new EU Payments Services Directive (PSD2) came into effect in January 2018, bringing in new laws aimed at enhancing consumer rights and reducing online fraud.
A key element of PSD2 is the introduction of additional security authentications for online transactions over €30, known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). It means customers will no longer be able to checkout online using just their credit or debit card details, they will also need to provide an additional form of identification.
What is Strong Customer Authentication?
SCA adds an extra layer of security when customers make a payment online. Until now, shoppers have been able to simply enter their payment details and complete their purchase (although some businesses voluntarily choose to ask for further authentication).
SCA is designed to make paying online more secure and, consequently, reduce payment fraud.
In real terms, however, this means that more than 300 million ordinary European consumers will regularly have to change the way they buy online, introducing an extra layer of friction at the checkout for everyday transactions.
How does SCA work?
SCA is a form of two-factor authentication designed to prove that customers are who they say they are, with
Hot Business News Today
Essential Black Friday tips for Amazon sellers
by Owen Gough • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Owen Gough on Small Business
Amazon introduced Black Friday to the UK almost a decade ago and since then the sales event has grown to be a huge success for many e-commerce sellers.
Although Black Friday began as a single day of sales it now often runs for longer and once more, Amazon is very much leading the way. Many retailers now run offers for the entire Black Friday weekend or even for a whole week. Amazon takes it even further, with Black Friday sales that can last for 12 days and requires them to double their workforce in November and December by taking on thousands of seasonal workers.
If you are an Amazon seller you are bound to want to take advantage of the opportunity to grow your sales. So, here are some essential tips you can follow as you gear up for Black Friday in November.
Understand how Amazon promotions work
To begin with, you need to make sure you understand how Amazon’s promotions work. Even if you’ve run promotions on Amazon before, it is worth going over them again, so your efforts aren’t derailed by a mistake you could easily have avoided.
Go through how they calculate the discount being
Hot Business News Today
Why businesses should go cashless: pros and cons
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
It’s an important question that every small business should ask themselves: cash or cashless? There’s an increasing amount of pressure to choose the latter, but many customers still like having the option of paying cash. People may be moving towards cashless, though – they’re only using physical money for three in every ten transactions. To
Hot Business News Today
Q&A: Adrian Swinscoe talks about improving customer experience
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Getting the customer experience right is a tough challenge for small businesses. We’ve seen major changes in the way that people are accessing goods and services, but what about the way businesses deal with people? Adrian Swinscoe is an advisor on both customer experience and customer service. We thought we’d ask him for some insights
Hot Business News Today
How to attract visitors to your exhibition stand
by Richard Edwards • • 0 Comments
The post How to attract visitors to your exhibition stand appeared first on Small Business.
Hot Business News Today
How UK consumers feel about AI and chatbots in customer service
by Andrew Ross • • 0 Comments
We’ve all, at some point, experienced being left on hold for a ridiculous amount of time when trying to get a hold of a service provider on the phone. As if being made listen to musac wasn’t painful enough, what really kills me is the automated voice that pops in and out to say “Your
The post How UK consumers feel about AI and chatbots in customer service appeared first on Small Business.