Business and Economics

Service with a smile could increase UK consumer spending by an astronomical £64.6 billion a year, new research has revealed. On average, people spend a £142.91 each week in shops and restaurants, but they would be willing to spend an additional £19.08 every week if they were to receive more attentive service. Despite this, just 11 per cent of Brits said they usually receive friendly service when shopping or eating out. Nils Christy, Chief Operating Offer at Monarch, said: “We...

You've heard about flogging wood to a forest and selling ice to Eskimos, but this must take the biscuit. A British firm has started exporting palm trees to the desert because there's a growing demand for disease-free trees. Date Palm Developments exports more than 140,000 plants a year to some of the hottest parts of the world, including Dubai, Egypt, Thailand and the Caribbean. The company has already sent over two million palm trees to 35 countries such as Australia, Peru, South Africa, Nigeria and...

Most marketers out there understand how valuable Facebook advertising can be for a business. It can increase sales and can deliver a really good return on the investment made. The problem is that Facebook advertising is not at all easy. You can easily end up spending hundreds of dollars and not making much in return. Most people that start using such ads in marketing will make huge mistakes and will not manage to reap the benefits that professionals are used...

The dream of Thatcher’s government was a nation where everybody owned their own home. Council houses would not be needed, or at least only for the tiny minority who couldn’t afford it. Her huge sell-off of council houses in the 80s was supposed to eliminate the need for public housing, and create a new society, or indeed no society at all. This way of thinking has been the policy of every Conservative Government since Thatcher, and also under Tony Blair’s...

The 80s were a boom time for many in the city of London and in the financial sector, but for huge swathes of the rest of the UK poverty prevailed, and the gap between the rich and the poor widened hugely, compared to the previous decade. Reagan’s and Thatcher’s free market capitalism, gave some people the chance to amass great wealth, however the decline of heavy industries left many without any form of income. Now a think tank, the Resolution...

There is all kind of misinformation circulating around on the net. Fake news is a good example. After all, how many people actually read legitimate news sites these days? Most of us just check the feed on our Facebook or Twitter pages instead to see what’s happening in the world. Given that ‘fake news’ is so common, have you read any headlines lately telling you that Facebook advertising is dead? I bet you have, so let’s take a look at...

Leeds based entrepreneur invests in Las Vegas Dessert chain Leeds based entrepreneur, Matt Haycox, has invested in Las Vegas Dessert chain, Sticks and Shakes. Matt Haycox, a consultant to Access Commercial Funding, which provides businesses funding for growth, decided to invest in the chain after a chance meeting with the founder at the end of last year. "It was the old story of 'I like the product so much I bought the business!'" says Matt. "I was out for the...

The more time you spend working at your office desk, the more important it becomes to create an efficient work space. Whether you work at home or share an office space with co-workers in the city, chances are that you are sharing a compact space. Trying to work and coexist within a small space can often cause conflict and distraction, and whether we are aware of it or not, our work environment can negatively or positively affect our productivity. A...

As an island just off the coast of mainland Europe it is hardly surprising that UK trade with the EU is huge and access the single market encourages this level of commerce. Now the UK is about to invoke article 50 and leave the EU, a thinktank has investigated the level of trade British cities have with the single market. The findings indicate that our urban areas conduct a huge amount of business with our EU partners, however they will...