London businesses hold out hope for bumper Christmas trade
Three in 10 businesses anticipate this Christmas will be their most successful in the past five years, according to exclusive data from Barclaycard.
Some 54 per cent of firms said they felt neutral or optimistic about the UK economy, meaning worries rage on for many businesses across the city.
However, Barclaycard’s fourth quarter barometer found that Londoners favour small businesses above other regions. 16 per cent of London firms said consumers were favouring smaller businesses while just seven per cent in the East of England agreed.
Despite concerns around labour shortages and other supply chain issues, 77 per cent of city firms said they had introduced measures to limit the impact of these difficulties. This was above the national average of 71 per cent.Across the country, Barclaycard found that quarterly SME transactions have risen by 38.1 per cent (compared to 2019) as Brits have started Christmas shopping.
However, concerns about inflation and rocketing bills were having a broader impact as confidence in the wider economic outlook had dipped.
Colin O’Flaherty, head of small business at Barclaycard Payments, said: “It’s encouraging to see that small and medium businesses are feeling positive about their performance ahead of the festive period.
“While the overall economic backdrop remains challenging amidst rising prices, slowing economic output and muted consumer confidence, UK SMEs continue to impress me with their resilience and their focus on controlling what they can control to meet the needs of their customers as they’ve weathered the ups and downs of the past 20 months.”
Earlier this week, CityAM reported that Christmas lights switch-ons and enthusiasm to shop early for the big day had enticed shoppers to high streets.
Footfall on UK high streets rose 2.5 per cent last week compared to the previous week while footfall in central London rose by one per cent.
Springboard, who published the data, said the benefit to footfall from the West End lights would be seen more clearly this week.