SMEs Expecting Hard Christmas
18th December 2017.
SME operators not only predict a lack of sales over the Christmas retail period, they also expect to be short on spare time, according to MYOB.
MYOB, the cloud accounting provider, has found that business confidence amongst SMEs has fallen in the lead up to the festive season.
One of the underlying factors for this reduced sentiment was the growing threat of bigger and online retailers from overseas.
According to the new research, a large majority of business owners predict zero business growth for the Christmas period while nearly one in five expect it to be quieter than last year.
Tim Reed, CEO of MYOB admitted that while other factors were at play, large numbers of SMEs had just not planned adequately for the “silly season”. Mr Reed noted that 37 percent of respondents during the survey had started planning for the Christmas period two months prior, while a third of businesses did not plan at all.
When asked about the main challenge they faced heading into 2018, the most common response was ‘maintaining work-life balance’.
Mr Reed claims that more business owners are spending time in the office, potentially to save costs on extra staff. The MYOB CEO is concerned, however, how this renewed dedication to work could impact the small business owner’s mental health, with this time of year traditionally reserved for ‘downtime’ and spending time with friends and family.
Mr Reed is happy that small business owners want to change this, with keeping a work-life balance coming up as the top new year’s resolution with 27 percent stating they wanted to “actively improve” in this area.
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