Rob Lankey, Commercial Mortgages Managing Director of Aldermore Bank, informs B&C about its role in supporting this initiative…
It’s an initiative that originated across the pond as a way of enticing shoppers into small, local businesses. It was devised to counteract other events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which focus instead on large retailers and online shopping. Undoubtedly it has been great in helping small businesses in the US.
Since our inception, one of Aldermore’s primary goals has been to support the growth of small businesses. I’m delighted that we are indeed taking part this year. SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy, and the only way for Britain to return to proper economic stability is by allowing small businesses to flourish.
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One way that we are taking part in Small Business Saturday is by launching our new ‘Stories’ feature on the Aldermore website. ‘Stories’ will allow SME owners to go on our website to post their story detailing the creation of their business. This will include any challenges that they may have encountered along the way. Readers will then be encouraged to vote for their favourite story, with the winning small business receiving an iPad 2.We are using the voting feature, along with asking SMEs to get involved via Twitter, in attempt to engage more with small business, both locally and nationally. Being able to see similar stories and problems, and then a forum to discuss those issues, could prove to be a source of comfort for the proprietors of small business up and down the country.
Although the UK’s economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2013, initiatives like Small Business Saturday are needed now more than ever. In terms of economic recovery, we are not out of the woods yet, meaning that further encouragement is needed to propel further growth.
Our recent SME Cost Inflation Report supports this idea. It showed that the annual rate of cost inflation this year fell from 1.2 per cent in Q2 to 0.7 per cent in Q3 – the lowest rate since 2009. This is fantastic news for SMEs who often find business costs a huge burden on them. Much of this decline in costs was driven by an annual fall of 8 per cent in financial and legal fees. This was the largest annual drop for more than a decade. Business services firms in particular have benefitted from this reduction in fees; they witnessed a 0.7 per cent fall in costs year on year.
However, small construction firms saw costs go up 1.5 per cent year on year. The boom in the housing market has meant higher demand for new houses, but at the same time the cost of raw materials to build those houses has shot up.
The findings from our report suggest a recovery, but one that is still a little uneven. Ultimately, for a stable economy in the future, there needs to be a period of prolonged, sustainable growth from all sectors of industry.
Yes, the recovery is happening. But Small Business Saturday and other similar initiatives are still needed to ensure that in the future, Britain’s economy is built on solid foundations. Only then can we ensure that the crash of 2008 will not be repeated.
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