Direct Mailer’s View of Business in the UK
Several times this week I’ve been asked about the state of UK mail order and ecommerce amid the economic meltdown and how it compares with things back in the US. At the magazine I edit, Catalogue/e-business (www.catalog-biz.com), we’re certainly covering our share of redundancies (“layoffs” in Brit speak) and companies entering administration (filing for bankruptcy). But there’s not the same sort of near-hysteria I recall from being in the States during the bursting of the web bubble in 1999 (and the subsequent post-9/11 economic ills) and that I’ve been hearing from my contacts “back home”.
“Make do and mend” was apparently a big slogan here in the UK during World War II, and it’s making a comeback, among consumers and businesses alike. (We recently ran an article with that title: http://www.catalog-biz.com/detailedinfo.aspx?DocID=1197.) Anecdotally there seem to be more pre-Christmas promotions—discounts, limited free shipping—than last year, with companies sending more promotional emails. It’s tough to compare the holiday promotional activity against that of the States, as the Christmas shopping season starts earlier here—there’s obviously no Thanksgiving to act as the unofficial start of Christmas shopping.
And though house values are expected to plunge as much as 30 percent from their peak (which was last summer, when I bought my house here!) and some pundits say that the UK will suffer more than the rest of the EU, some businesses are still doing fine. Asos, a trendy fashion etailer, saw its year-on-year sales to 30 September more than double; Shop Direct Group, whose flagship brand is general merchant Littlewoods (think JC Penney without the stores), posted its first rise in annual sales in more than a decade. And a specialty gifts cataloguer I spoke with just last week said that his business “well up” over last year; he figures that his fairly well-off customer base may have taken a hit here and there but overall still have enough money to spend on presents.
And as for the president-elect, everyone I’ve spoken with over here, even Tory supporters, are relieved that Obama won. And everyone seemed to be following the election and, as soon as they heard my accent, eager for my opinion.
Sherry Chiger
Editorial Director
Catalogue | e-business
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