News | Tuesday, 26 November 2008

SMEs predicting unhappy Christmas this year

In spite of the traditional expectation of retail peaks throughout the festive weeks, more than 51 per cent of small business owners responding to a questionnaire this week claimed that business prospects for this Christmas look bad, while an additional 11 per cent said they predict a very bad season.
The results of the short survey, published by the General Retailers’ and Traders’ Union (GRTU) in a bid to determine how businesses are being affected by current developments, were based on a predominant 22 per cent respondents hailing from the services sector followed by 12 per cent from wellness and health, 11 per cent food suppliers or supermarkets and others from a span of other different sectors – including electronics and clothing retail.
A staggering 27 per cent of all respondents said that throughout the last six months their business has been affected by less consumer confidence, followed by 22 per cent who mentioned that extra expenses have affected their performance. 14 per cent mentioned the financial crisis as having a direct bearing on their performance, while only 2 per cent said the situation, whether positive or negative, was due to Euro changeover. 8 per cent said fuel prices have affected their bottom line profit.
Asked directly on the reasons attributable to the prospects for the Christmas season, 30 per cent blamed it on lack of confidence, while 22 per cent said it was due to a slump in purchasing power and an additional 17 per cent mentioned utility tariffs. Only 6 per cent laid direct blame on the 2009 budget, and 10 per cent said they have good prospects because of better planning.

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