The latest edition of Holywell Business News has been produced and it really is an eyeopener. You really MUST read what Tesco customers think of Holywell.

Holywell Business News Issue 18 Spring 2008

Tesco Holywell was officially opened at 10am on Monday 18 February by children from St Winefride’s RC School. At the opening, Tesco presented the school with a £1,000 for its Eco Project. The company has also presented the Good Companions of Holywell Hospitals and Fflint Lifeboat each with a cheque for £1,000.

Let Tesco shoppers know about your shop

The Summer 2007 issue of Holywell Business News contained an article about erecting a sign on the rear of your premises if it faces the Tesco car parks to advertise your business to people shopping there.

Well, the store is now open and it’s attracting shoppers who have never been to Holywell before and if you haven’t considered such a sign, you could be losing money and a marketing opportunity.

As the town centre is a conservation area, there are restrictions relating to the size, style, location and the information the sign can contain and you will need permission from Flintshire County Council before you can do the work. To find out more, phone the council’s planning regulations enquiry line on 01352-703234.If the rear of your premises faces the Somerfield Car Park, how about a sign advertising your business to shoppers visiting the Somerfield store? The same conditions as above apply.

PS: Have you thought of getting some leaflets promoting your business printed and then hand them out to shoppers driving into the Tesco car park? A few go-ahead Holywell businesses have done this already.

***Feedback from Tesco shoppers***

Comments made to the town centre manager by people visiting Tesco who haven’t shopped in Holywell before and who have made linked shopping trips into the town centre have generally been positive. There have been some negative comments though and the type voiced most frequently are listed below:

*Why do some shops have grills on their windows during the day making it difficult to see whether they’re open and what they sell?

* Why do some shops close so early?

* Why do so many shops still have half-day closing?

* Why do so few shops open on a Sunday?

* Seeing so many shops with metal roller shutters over their windows doesn’t create a good impression of the town.

* What a poor first impression you get when entering the town centre via
Tower Gardens seeing the shops with those awful roller shutters covering their windows.

Do any of these comments give you any food for thought?

Trade down?
If trade is down, it might not be much consolation to know that most businesses are experiencing the same downturn, but at least it might provide some comfort to know it’s not you, your business or your town that’s at fault. A report in the February issue of the magazine

Wales Business Insider by south Wales insolvency practitioners, Jackson Norton, predicted that 2008 will be a bleak year for Welsh businesses, particularly those in the retail sector and that the next three months will be the worst as the credit crunch hits the high street.

If people don’t know your business exists……

If people don’t know your business exists, they can’t possibly buy from you and your business will have to depend on existing customers and people who find you by chance. That’s why marketing is so important.Holywell residents who have never previously shopped in the town are now visiting Tesco and Lidl as too are people from the villages surrounding Holywell who used to shop in other towns. That’s why it’s so important that you tell these people who you are, where you are and what your business sells.

Some are already visiting the town centre but many aren’t and it is those who don’t that you need to target. You will all know you can do this via the three daily or weekly newspapers that serve Holywell and its catchment area.

Did you know though that there are four other well targeted and well read publications that serve the villages around Holywell? These are:

The Five Villages – quarterly

Caerwys Chronicle – monthly

Halkyn Mountain News – quarterly

Y Glannau – quarterly (Welsh language publication – they will translate your ad’s at no additional cost)

Holywell town Crier – quarterly (more details are contained elsewhere in this newsletter)

For contact details for any of these publications, contact Holywell town centre manager, Medwyn Roberts, on 01745-710333.

Give your business a higher profile

Did you know that the Holywell Chamber of Commerce now produces a booklet called Holywell Town Crier that’s full of useful information, articles and advertisements? 3,000 copies are published each quarter and are available free of charge from strategic locations in Holywell outside the town where people who don’t normally shop in Holywell will see them.Even if your business isn’t a member (which it should be if you want to influence what’s happening in Holywell), you can still advertise in it.

For more details, phone 01352-715189.

Do you care enough about the future of Holywell?

Flintshire County Council has commissioned consultants to carry out a Healthcheck survey of all towns in the county that will form the basis of future action by the council and funding applications to carry out projects identified.

Although the consultants have mailed more than 150 letters and questionnaires to businesses and strategic organisations in Holywell, they had only received 21 replies by 29 February. If you haven’t replied and you are interested in the future of your town, please complete the questionnaires and return them by Wednesday 30 April. If you have mislaid the questionnaire, another copy can be obtained by contacting Clare Madders, Regeneration Project Officer at Flintshire County Council by phone on 01352 703225 or e-mail at clare.madders@flintshire.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can contact Laura Beech at Roger Tym & Partners on 0161 834 0833 or email Laura.Beech@tymconsult.com

Learn new skills

Flintshire County Council is putting on a number of courses to help business owners and staff gain new skills. The courses, are being held at Greenfield Business Centre and Deeside Centre and include: Sales, Advertising & Promotion; Finance Tips for Small Businesses; Customer Service; Health & Safety; and SAGE. For more information, phone Trish Carlin on 01352-703042.Does this give you any ideas?

The Forum of Private Business is urging business owners in other towns to carry out the same exercise as some of its members carried out in the Chorlton area of Manchester who tested claims that supermarket chains were cheaper than local shops and proved that this was not so.

When a team of shopkeepers in Chorlton filled two shopping bags with similar goods, they found that the goods bought in high street shops were 7.5% cheaper than those bought in the supermarkets. They then used this as a marketing tool in a jointly-funded public awareness campaign via the issue of news releases, press advertising and shop window posters which led to an increase in trade and customer loyalty.

The Forum of Private Business is a membership organisation that represents more than 25,000 private businesses in the UK. For more information phone 0845-612-6266 or visit their website at: www.fpb.org.uk

New IT Centre & Internet Café

Holywell’s new IT Centre & Internet Café opened on Monday 14 January and is already attracting new people into the town centre. Have you popped in yet? If so, you’ll know about the wide range of information, advice and assistance you can find there that could benefit your business. If you haven’t, then you should when you’ve got a few minutes to spare

A way of generating more trade

A recent survey carried out by the British Retail Consortium showed that small independently-owned businesses that did not have an answerphone, didn’t open on Sundays or open late on at least one evening each week were each losing between 15% and 20% of potential extra business.Research has shown that because of changed shopping patterns in recent years, other than a business having its own website, these are the top three things small businesses can do to compete

with large chain stores selling the same products as they do, out of town shopping centres and the growing trend to buy over the Internet.

The BRC also said that SME’s that don’t offer any of these facilities are in danger of being left behind in the retail revolution that’s having an ongoing effect on the high street and are contributing to their own demise, and should consider taking steps to implement some or all of them.

Another reason why your business should have a website

According to research carried out by business advisory firm, Deloitte, shoppers in Wales spent £200m a day online doing their Christmas shopping for gifts, food and drink between 1 and 24 December 2007. They also predict that 2008 will be a year that will provide strong growth for retailers with an internet presence in comparison to a tougher year for those who don’t.

It’s not just a Christmas ‘blip’ either because research by the Interactive Media in Retail Group showed that throughout the UK, 15p in every £1 of retail spend during 2007 was carried out over the Internet and totalled £46.6 billion – a 54% increase on 2006.

This wasn’t additional spending either because the increase in online purchases came at the expense of traditional high street shops according to the e-retail sales index. The statement by the Media in Retail Group also went on to say that with the cost of obtaining an internet presence now being so low, any business without a website is not ‘firing on all cylinders’.

Grafitti

If your building suffers a grafitti attack, help is at hand. Phone Flintshire County Council on 01352-701818 and ask for Gemma Evans or e-mail her on gemma_evans@flintshire.gov.uk and she will arrange to get it removed free of charge. If it’s a problem that occurs regularly, she may also be able to arrange to have the surface treated so grafitti can be washed off.

How well are you looking after your customers?

According to a report published in a recent issue of the monthly publication, Business 550, studies have shown that the cost of retaining an existing customer is only about 10% of the cost of acquiring a new one.

The report also goes on to say that a 5% improvement in customer retention can result in an increase in profitability of between 25% and 85% and shows that by targeting customers who already feel some loyalty to a business that less money needs to be spent on marketing and that the business can reap more in return from its marketing budget.

Unfortunately, it also goes on to say that many businesses, especially SMEs, undervalue the potential profitability of customer loyalty and risk losing them to more astute competitors by doing very little or nothing to retain their custom. More worryingly still, it says that many small businesses don’t even have a marketing budget and rely solely on people passing their premises who might be tempted to ‘call in’ for their custom.

Health and safety at work

Does your business have a Health & Safety policy? If not, you can get one written specifically to meet the needs of your business for just £75 by visiting www.healthandsafetywise.co.uk.

You can also sign up for a free monthly newsletter keeping you informed about all the latest regulations.Haven’t got a computer? If not, pop in to Futures@Holywell or Holywell Library and use theirs.

New car park

The new long-stay car park in Halkyn Road is now under construcrtion and should be open by the end of April. Holywell town centre manager, Medwyn Roberts, has been informed that parking in the new car park will, which will have space for 99 vehicles, will, initially at least, be free.

Staff employed at some town centre shops and offices with their own limited private parking have already informed Holywell’s town centre manager that they intend to meet at the new car park and organise a car-share scheme between themsleves on a rota basis so they don’t have to walk to and from the town centre to the new car park.
Confused about your business rates?

If you’re confused about how your business rates are calculated, want to know whether changes your’re proposing to make to your premises might affect your rating valuation or what to do if you think your valuation is too high, help is at hand.

The Welsh Assembly Government and the Valuation Office Agency have between them launched www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk/wales a website specifically aimed at helping small independent businesses to understand the business rating system, how their valuation is calculated and where to get more information or help.You can also find some useful information on the Valuation Office Agency’s own website www.voa.gov.uk or alternatively e-mail town centre manager, Medwyn Roberts at med@impactcom.biz and he will send you some information about business rates that might help you.

Medwyn Roberts is the Holywell Town Centre Manager.  He is also the editor of this newsletter. He can be contacted by phone on 01745-710333 or by e-mail on med@impactcom.biz
This Newsletter is produced and financed by Holywell Town Council