Ready Steady Blog » New Business

Change and survive That’s the message from local businesses

Jacky Kearns — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:35:35 +0000

A third of local businesses claim to have changed their product and service offering over the past six months according to our latest study.

Firms believe that redesigning and packaging their businesses in a different way has been a critical survival strategy to tackle the recession.

However, just under 50 per cent of businesses have cut back on staff – including redundancies, wage and bonus cuts, recruitment freezes and unpaid leave – to save money. In addition, marketing seems to have taken a blow with 15 per cent reducing yearly spend. A massive 70 per cent have also cut back on staff incentives to stay with the company.

The study shows how determined some companies are to beat the recession come what may. Taking positive steps to evolve their business strategies, combined with implementing cost-cutting measures, are pivotal to their survival and success.

However, two thirds of companies are not changing any aspect of their business offering and a third has no recession strategy in place, which we find quite surprising.

Typically business owners can save tens of thousands of pounds every year by relocating the contents of their commercial warehouse or office storage space to a self storage facility, reducing rental costs by up to 90 per cent.

Rise of Internet Traders

Jacky Kearns — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:41:58 +0000

The economic downturn has given rise to a new generation of internet traders who are bucking the trend and avoiding the credit crunch. We have observed a distinct increase in the numbers of internet traders looking to start a new business at ready steady store. They are using the storage units as stock rooms and a place to work and are attracted by the low start up costs, flexibility and peace of mind of having their goods securely stored.

Storing stock safely and securely in this way also means new businesses can buy in bulk and pay less for goods. Self storage companies such as ready steady store aim to make the transition as simple as possible, offering a free receipt and dispatch service, fax and photocopying facilities, and free delivery of all packing materials.

On 12 March the Leeds Roundhay and Manchester Central branches of ready steady store are holding open evenings to help businesses understand the savings they could make by using self storage and by setting up an office in their own self storage unit. Both stores will have business experts on hand to offer advice on getting started in business and will be available to chat and answer questions. The stores will also be holding a prize draw for one lucky business to receive three months free office space.