Despite Brexit, more than 60 per cent of UK small and medium-sized enterprises say they won’t be making adjustments to their business this Christmas shopping season.
The findings from a recent survey by Avalara, a cloud-based tax compliance automation service, shows that more than half (54 per cent) are not concerned about Brexit impacting their Christmas season sales. In fact, 75 per cent of SMEs say they’re ready for the Christmas shopping season.
The Parliamentary vote on Brexit has created further confusion on the likely date of Brexit, says Gemma Mullen, head of market research at Avalara.
She adds, ‘Many companies had already started drawing up plans, including exit strategies, following the announcement of the exit date of March 2019, but the Parliament vote puts this in doubt. It is no surprise, then, that many businesses are choosing to take on a ‘business as usual’ approach when it comes to the Christmas sales season.’
Black Friday and Cyber Monday may not be the key sales drivers, after all, as 61 per cent of respondents say they typically don’t see an increase in shopping on either day.
Women lead the pack; nearly 60 per cent of female SME bosses (59.5 per cent) are ready for Black Friday/Cyber Monday this year, vs 36 per cent of male bosses. More than 50 per cent of women respondents (51.4 per cent) are ready to handle the Christmas shopping season in general, as compared to 34 per cent of male respondents.
Price and store hours are the primary changes, for the 26 per cent who say they are planning to make some adjustments to their business this festive season due to Brexit.
Nearly half (46 per cent) of companies will raise some of their prices for the Christmas period, while 40 per cent look to cut some of their prices.
more than a third(38 per cent) will be looking to extend store hours over the holiday period.
Further reading on Christmas shopping
