Offline and online sales decline

Jass T

Free Member
Apr 22, 2019
196
54
@mamon121 I was in B & M very frequently over the summer, they had some great deals on Dulux paint.
Anyway, at the tills they were actively pushing the confectionery displayed strategically there. As you consider them a competitor, maybe you were impacted by the.
 
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tony84

Free Member
Apr 14, 2008
6,592
1
1,406
Manchester
What is business usually like in October?
We usually have a bit of a lull early October that picks up at the end and that appears to be happening now. Slow start and then today it appears to be picking up again. Usually we would be busy until around the 10th November and then it slows down until the new year.

Footfall is going to vary. I suspect if you are in a major city, numbers will be down. But if I walk in to our village (maybe 50-60 shops), footfall appears to be the same as ever if not higher.
 
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Mr D

Free Member
Feb 12, 2017
28,915
3,627
Stirling
What is business usually like in October?
We usually have a bit of a lull early October that picks up at the end and that appears to be happening now. Slow start and then today it appears to be picking up again. Usually we would be busy until around the 10th November and then it slows down until the new year.

Footfall is going to vary. I suspect if you are in a major city, numbers will be down. But if I walk in to our village (maybe 50-60 shops), footfall appears to be the same as ever if not higher.

We usually see increased online sales, Christmas is our busiest time of year.
This year we are seeing considerable increase in online sales across sites.
Offline, different business, should be stable sales all through the year. Multiple factors have caused sales to be a lot lower this year than expected. Could be 12 months plus before sales can be back to normal per month.
 
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North_Wind

Free Member
Oct 18, 2020
3
0
I have an investment in an online retailer (lighting). We were off 80% at one point when lockdown first started (March). Then up a bit (early April) then down then steadily up. Lots of new account openings. September was our busiest month ever. We've seen a slight dip since the Tier 1-3 was announced but I expect it will be temporary.
 
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New customer acquisition is up, business from our existing customer base is hit and miss depending on sector. We've had safe, projected business paused indefinitely due to customers in duress. Its frustrating but it is what it is.

In terms of ideas, we've definitely started being more proactive with multi-channel marketing in a way that we probably should have done before. It's beginning to pay dividends for us.
 
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momon121

Free Member
Mar 30, 2010
630
45
New customer acquisition is up, business from our existing customer base is hit and miss depending on sector. We've had safe, projected business paused indefinitely due to customers in duress. Its frustrating but it is what it is.

In terms of ideas, we've definitely started being more proactive with multi-channel marketing in a way that we probably should have done before. It's beginning to pay dividends for us.
Could you share some ideas the kind of marketing you have applied please ?
 
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momon121

Free Member
Mar 30, 2010
630
45
My thoughts on this lockdown is somewhat disappointing- being a foodstore with established delivery rounds we’d thought that the deliveries would take off through the roof but that isn’t the case.

The roads seems to be busier maybe due to school runs and some companies remaining open but I don’t know see no panic buying in any supermarkets or general stores. I understand that government needs to to limit the spread of this disease but stoping and starting the economy irregularly certainly is not good for small businesses like ours
 
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Could you share some ideas the kind of marketing you have applied please ?

The biggest project has been our website. We have many, many products/services available to us that simply were not on our website. So we couldn't be found for it, and browsing visitors would not be aware. That contented has then been supplemented by SEO. How difficult this is really depends on what you would need to rank for. We are approximately 1/3 through these efforts but already seeing a big surge in traffic and have had some leads though. We are also just starting to revisit social media engagement also. I hope this helps.
 
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Guy Incognito

Free Member
Aug 2, 2016
271
47
I think we've seen a step change in how people will shop. Online has been growing steadily over the past 15 years, but this year has taken it up several levels.

We only sell online and for us, February was the worst performing month YoY, followed by September. The best months were June and January in % terms. Overall we are a fair distance ahead of our target, but wary that there is severe economic hardship for millions just around the corner so there will be less discretionary purchases.
 
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