Business plan

New research into the state of play for 250 U.K. business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing leaders  has revealed that over half of brands surveyed saw a rise in their marketing technology budget in 2020.

Businesses are focused on using these expanded resources to deliver for a market radically altered by COVID-19. The top concern from marketing leaders for 2021 was the growing demand for convenience and safety, more than twice the second biggest concern – the acceleration of e-commerce.

In the new year, brands are preparing to bounce back from the challenges of 2020 with a more mature, tech-driven approach to build meaningful connections with customers. Sixty-one percent of respondents pointed to increased new customer acquisition as their top business priority in 2021, followed by improved data management, optimised marketing automation workflows and better mapping of the customer lifecycle.

These priorities translate into an ambitious expansion of businesses’ martech stack in 2021. … Read the rest

More than 800,000 private tenants in England and Wales could be behind on their rent, with young people and the self-employed most likely to have missed payments, research for a landlords group has found.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) warned of a “rent debt crisis” and called for government action to help struggling tenants.

A survey for the NRLA found 7% of renters had built up arrears as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a figure that would equate to 840,000 people across England and Wales.

While the average arrears were between £251 and £500, some tenants reported that they owed their landlord more than £1,000.

Renters aged between 18 and 24 were twice as likely to have fallen behind as the general population of tenants, and the self-employed were most likely to be struggling, with 17% saying they had built up debts to their landlord.

These groups have … Read the rest

The mayhem in UK ports caused by the pandemic and stockpiling before the end of the Brexit transition period will not ease early next year. In fact, it will get much worse, with the potential to “kill trade and businesses”.

So warns a former Customs & Excise official who has spent 25 years advising businesses on how to comply with global customs rules.

“The first five days in the new year will be fine,” said Steve Cock, an adviser to KGH Customs, a trade consultancy owned by Danish shipping giant Maersk. “But after that first long weekend, things will get sticky. It won’t be long before lorries take 24 hours to get into the Channel tunnel.”

For years, UK businesses exporting to the EU have been able to move goods throughout the bloc without stumping up any supporting declarations.

From January 1, however, all UK firms shipping to the EU … Read the rest