As Britain ground to a halt it was business as usual online
Feb 5 2009 By Dominic Edmunds
ACCORDING to estimates from The Federation of Small Businesses, 6.4 million people failed to make it to work on Monday. The disruption could cost UK business up to £1bn, a figure that is hard to swallow given the well publicised recession we find ourselves in.
In the physical world, businesses can find themselves literally grinding to a halt at Mother Nature’s command. However, online business continues regardless of snow fall. In fact, I would bet my hat, scarf and gloves on it that the extended weekend, experienced by many, may well result in a spike of online sales.
It appears to be that, while the retail high street around us crumbles, with companies such as Zavvi, Adams, Officers Club, Mk One, MFI, Whittards and many others, closing their doors or going into administration, online businesses seem to thrive.
No more so than the emerging news that the Woolworths brand is to rise from the flames of the high street and be given a new lease of life as an exclusively online brand. Then, of course, there’s Tesco’s expansion into online fashion with its intention of replicating ASOS, who reported a 108% sales rise in the last nine months and claim that 1.2 million people have bought from their site in the past six months.
Are we seeing the high street deconstruct before our very eyes?
Are we witnessing the peak of the digital revolution?
When most high street retailers are struggling to get shoppers to buy, online retail appears to be robust. Amazon, the world’s largest internet retailer posted an 18% increase on sales for the last quarter and have only just announced their intention to enter the grocery online market in the UK.
Online spending is growing rapidly and it doesn’t take much to recognise that online will factor heavily in all future business successes, no matter what sector or industry.
Was Mondays white-out a vision of Brown’s Digital Britain with all of us “stay-at-homes” logging on to spend our digital pound?
Well, in the world of “online” and with an overwhelming sense of “business as usual”, I say, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”!
Dominic Edmunds is operations director at Sunderland software firm Leighton Group
