Gone very quiet

Author
Discussion

Digga

40,464 posts

285 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
Community fridge is a good idea.

Similarly, I feel there is a need for food banks and that they can do a lot of good. Sadly, like other aspects of welfare, it's very tricky to curb abuse.

loafer123

15,480 posts

217 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all

It’s hard to tell when it’s abuse.

We had chat with a lady who was taking several loaves at once and she said she was so happy the fridge existed because that was sandwiches for her husband and kids sorted for the whole week.

Back on topic, it is fair to say that the fridge has not gone quiet, and that the donations are down a bit from supermarkets as people shop more in the discount sections.

Digga

40,464 posts

285 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
A mate's got a house set in about 12 acres, with a detatched 6 car garage, in which he's got Mc Laren, Exige, swimming lake, summerhouse etc. and he shops the Waitrose yellow lables. hehe

You don't make it by giving it away.

skwdenyer

16,719 posts

242 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
Essarell said:
Frimley111R said:
Quattromaster said:
Guy I know is currently on his 4th overseas holiday this year with his wife, yet they use a food bank every week.
Blimey, that's got to be worth a phone call to the national papers....
I know what you mean but the “food bank” is the new powerful emotive trigger word. My wife does some work in this sector and it’s not unusual to see people getting a taxi to a food bank. There not short of money as such but its the thought of free food.
Do not all good banks work on a referral basis from Job Centres and suchlike? Leaving them open to all seems ripe for abuse - and, crucially, a potential decline in contributions.

22

2,328 posts

139 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
Food banks are for those who struggle to feed themselves/their families.

Community fridges are open to all, queues insane at the local one here (in the home counties where everyone is rich obviously). The clientele are very different from those using food banks - and zero stigma it appears.

For the thread, posh (home) garden maintenance here. Lost a reasonable sized one (£600+pcm) as not happy with RPI adjustment. Just sold one of his businesses for 8 figures so I can feel his pain hehe

Enquiries/demand slows this time of year but always (gratefully) beyond capacity and super fussy with what we take on.

GardeningEcomm

91 posts

23 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
As I'm in gardening products we are out of season here.
Still, November has been awful, website sales down 25% on last year.
Pretty odd really as our sales have been up generally all year until now.

Might be partly because competitors are blasting the Black Friday offers early?
I try not to 'over-communicate' with my customers in the off-season - don't want to hassle people with multi-emails etc.

Also, in my game, the weather plays a big part.
Looking at the met office website mid-November was mild last year.
(Nov 23 has been very wet.....but then Nov 22 started off with 100mph winds too)

I'm not going to lose any sleep over this sales drop but just thought I'd chip in to the thread.
Inflation dipping below 5% announced today should put a bit of goodwill into the consumer market for you guys needing a busy Christmas??
Good luck.

fridaypassion

8,690 posts

230 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
Stupid plastic sportscar sales are still ticking along.

Rewind 12 months and the situation is much better last November/December were two of the worst months I can remember. It was the start of the gas bill apocalypse plus Ukraine was in the news a lot at that time. We did I think two sales in those two months which is very poor performance for us. I did take 3 deposits directly before the Christmas break though. This year although it still feels slow I'm already way past what we did in those two months halfway through November but as I say last year was a terribly low baseline to compare to.

Last couple of years January has been a stellar month for us so 2024 will hopefully get off to a flier I think we'll be busy again come Spring.

loafer123

15,480 posts

217 months

Thursday 16th November 2023
quotequote all

MrsLoafer has decided to close down her online retail business in the craft sector whilst she is still able to take money out, and to spend a bit more time with her mum.


Is there any value in the digital assets?


Domain (which is product agnostic in name) - 23,000 users in October, 20,000 New Users, 4m average engagement time

Mailchimp - 38,000 Contacts 19,000 Subscribers Open Rate 25-30%

Instagram - 20,000 Followers

Facebook - 36,000 Followers

TikTok - 2,800 Followers

Threads - 1,700 Followers

Pinterest - 7,200 Followers - 532,000 Monthly Views


If anyone can help with advice/experience, that would be appreciated.

jammy-git

29,778 posts

214 months

Thursday 16th November 2023
quotequote all
May I ask what sort of crafting?

loafer123

15,480 posts

217 months

Thursday 16th November 2023
quotequote all
jammy-git said:
May I ask what sort of crafting?
Fabric, mainly.

GardeningEcomm

91 posts

23 months

Friday 17th November 2023
quotequote all
New data today from the Office for National Statistics shows retail sales volumes fell by 0.3% in October, missing forecasts for a 0.3% rise.

That follows a revised 1.1% decline in September – worse than the 0.9% drop first estimated. redface



Digga

40,464 posts

285 months

Friday 17th November 2023
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
jammy-git said:
May I ask what sort of crafting?
Fabric, mainly.
It's niche but therefore must have value to someone. Gaining Facebook users, for example, is now pretty triky, compared to how it was before Apple locked down devices.

jammy-git

29,778 posts

214 months

Friday 17th November 2023
quotequote all
GardeningEcomm said:
New data today from the Office for National Statistics shows retail sales volumes fell by 0.3% in October, missing forecasts for a 0.3% rise.

That follows a revised 1.1% decline in September – worse than the 0.9% drop first estimated. redface
Definitely reflects what I've been hearing via digital agencies - nearly everyone is quiet right now, with only slight uptick in sales reported by a few stores this month.

jammy-git

29,778 posts

214 months

Friday 17th November 2023
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
jammy-git said:
May I ask what sort of crafting?
Fabric, mainly.
May I ask why she's not looking to sell the business as a going concern?

loafer123

15,480 posts

217 months

Friday 17th November 2023
quotequote all
jammy-git said:
May I ask why she's not looking to sell the business as a going concern?
It’s just about breaking even at the moment, but probably harder to sell the business than just run off the stock.

Let me know if you are interested - I see you have a digital agency - it would likely fly with the right skills to hit the market more aggressively.

jammy-git

29,778 posts

214 months

Friday 17th November 2023
quotequote all
Yea, please message me with the link.

105.4

4,159 posts

73 months

Saturday 18th November 2023
quotequote all
We’re a good couple of weeks into the Christmas Peak. Well, it’s a bit of a weird one.

I don’t really know what to make of it. My numbers are up around 30-35% on what I’ve been doing as an average so far this year. But what I haven’t seen is the HUUUGE ramp-up which I saw this time last year, or the year before.

This doesn’t mean that it’s quiet. Far from it. I’ve been doing really strong numbers since April, with none of the seasonal troughs that I’d typically expect.

I have to wonder what sort of an effect the unseasonally mild weather has been having on peoples spending habits. I saw 16c this lunchtime, which must be 10c up on what we’d usually expect in late November?

okgo

38,372 posts

200 months

Saturday 18th November 2023
quotequote all
Not that unusual really. Why would it make any difference?

Black Friday next week, I’m sure the debt junkies will start going wild soon wink

105.4

4,159 posts

73 months

Saturday 18th November 2023
quotequote all
okgo said:
Not that unusual really. Why would it make any difference?

Black Friday next week, I’m sure the debt junkies will start going wild soon wink
I’ve already seen the predictions. They’re only slightly up on the last couple of weeks.

egor110

16,931 posts

205 months

Saturday 18th November 2023
quotequote all
105.4 said:
We’re a good couple of weeks into the Christmas Peak. Well, it’s a bit of a weird one.

I don’t really know what to make of it. My numbers are up around 30-35% on what I’ve been doing as an average so far this year. But what I haven’t seen is the HUUUGE ramp-up which I saw this time last year, or the year before.

This doesn’t mean that it’s quiet. Far from it. I’ve been doing really strong numbers since April, with none of the seasonal troughs that I’d typically expect.

I have to wonder what sort of an effect the unseasonally mild weather has been having on peoples spending habits. I saw 16c this lunchtime, which must be 10c up on what we’d usually expect in late November?
You can't compare to last year , RM were on strike so you'd of mopped up there work unlike this year .