That some small businesses are failing because they don’t adapt to the needs of their customers?

[Isawyou]

I try to shop local. Fortunately I do have some great independent places nearby.

What I am finding frustrating is for example the fruit and veg shop closes at 4.30pm. They start packing up at 3.45pm and it is really difficult to buy things from there where they are stacking all the stands with the produce inside. They also look unhappy at customers coming to buy at packing up time. It is easier to go to the Tesco express that stays open until midnight.

Other shops do not open until 10am and close early. So I can’t get there before work or after work.

They complain their businesses are not doing well and people do not shop local but they are not exactly facilitating it for the customers either.

Fair enough, but don't complain when all the small shops have closed down.

Our village had 3 pubs, and two have now closed. Lots of villagers whingeing about how sad it is and how inconvenient and they don't like the one that's stayed open because it's turned into more of a family restaurant than a pub. But they should have damn well used the other two pubs more if they wanted them! They only closed because of lack of custom!

Most people on this thread know that a business that cannot afford to open when customers want to shop is not viable business.

The demand is there. The fruit and veg that closes at 4.30pm and is packing up from 3.45 is missing all the after work shoppers. The other fruit and veg place that opened nearby and does two late evenings a week is continuing to grow and expand as it is listening to its customers. They are actually welcoming to their customers unlike the one that closes early.

Most people don’t complain. Heh just get on with their lives, shopping where it suits them. This kind of huffy attitude towards customers is never going to preserve a business.

Maybe it might cost them more in wages to open a few hours more on a weekday and weekends.

I would have thought that they close early on Saturday and Sunday so they get a day off or to catch up with any online business they might have.

Running costs, wages and pooling resources for busy times might be why they don't have longer hours, Wi-Fi, card machine.

Tbh I don't know but totally get your frustration, only really large businesses have the luxury of being practically 24/7.
You either choose to support local businesses or go with convenience, it's what suits you.

But this illustrates the point perfectly. Why should anyone go on a journey to draw out cash for one pizza delivery company when you don’t need to as their competitors offer card payments? This is the entire point.

I run a business- not retail, but I regularly seek feedback from customers and adapt accordingly. If enough of your customers are telling you they’d appreciate card payments then it’s ridiculously stubborn and actually stupid to not offer it and you can’t then moan that less people are offering you trade. Your customer is the person who pays your livelihood- if you are going to ignore their requests out of some stubborn belief of how YOU think the world should be then I have no sympathy I’m afraid.

You reminded me of one pub in our city closing and someone on facebook bemoaning lost of their local jewel they used to go to in early 2000s.... "Where will we go without it". Wherever you were going last 20 years instead, mate🤦

The demand isn't there if the market for those goods and services is saturated with other businesses.
Of course, if they chose to close or they go out of business, then a small amount of demand will go to the remaining business. Often these decisions will be made in-house by the owners. It could be a restocking issue, could be a lifestyle choice.
Money is made by being niche, not by competing over hrs and cost. Leave that to the supermarkets or bigger businesses.

I am amazed how so many people can look at this just from their own perspective. The small business owners are people just like anyone else and their work goes beyond the opening hours, ofter with early mornings if its a vegetable shops etc.

Customers paying with cards costs them money. For small amounts it costs them more then what their own costs are. Often smaller shops only have smaller transactions /compared lets say to a family weekly shop at a supermarket/.
Supporting them goes well beyond your own convenience. In the very wide picture its about the world being in the hands of a few very wealthy people who dont care about anything else then their own power.

I do think that shopkeepers' and business owners' personalities and demeanors can make or break a business if there's competition in the vicinity - which these days is nearly always, either physically or online.

Totally @Hooklander
There's a local gallery and cafe near me which I now avoid due to the owner's inability to cope if more than one person is in the queue waiting for a coffee. She goes into meltdown, almost shouting at customers that she "can't do more than one thing at a time", despite the customers quietly and patiently waiting 😮

I know of 2 groups that avoid it too because of this. The owner actually agreed and arranged for one group to hold their meetings in her cafe, but when they did she would get agitated because there were too many people wanting drinks. They were incredibly patient with her, didn't mind waiting, never put pressure on her, yet she'd get so agitated she'd cry. Some of the group would even help her out. Eventually the group felt so uncomfortable that they asked the organiser to find another venue, and when the organiser told the cafe owner that they'd no longer visit she got so angry that they were taking our custom elsewhere!

She also got funny with me when I phoned and asked what her opening hours are, telling me "they're on the door!" Yes, but I wasn't outside the cafe, I was at home, and her website didn't have opening hours listed 🙄Even her FB page doesn't list them (all I found was a long post from months ago where it mentions "open from 9am to 4pm Tuesday to Friday, 2pm on Saturday"), and the times mentioned on Google and FB differ.

She has meeting rooms too and even they caused drama when lack of clear signage meant people had to ask her where the rooms were. She got so flustered and cross with people. Just make the signs clear and they won't need to bother you! 😠

I noticed how there used to be another group held there which has relocated. I wonder why 🤔

Oh I’m not- frankly I don’t care if they go out of business because they’ve made it impossible for me to shop there anyway so I can’t really miss something I never use in the first place 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hospitality, in particular, has been over-saturated in recent yrs, they need a refresh and some will decide to close and do something else.

I think a PP just summed it all up very succinctly - consumers just don't care how they acquire their consumables as long as they get them cheap, quick smart and completely at their own convenience.

If small businesses go under it's not their problem - they can just go elsewhere.

My seas-side town has been hollowed out due to out of town retail parks, there are no department stores. It's all coffee shops, chains, pubs and entertainment. There's a big cinema complex with lots of eateries inside - all corporate. Rates are extortionate so there are huge amounts of empty shops and the place is considered a no go zone for residents. Tourists are disappointed by the lack of vibrancy and diversity.

My shop is in another part of the town on a High Street so people do find their way to the small independent retail outlets in my area but as mentioned in my last whine, there are continuing problems with out of area roadworks that cause drivers to be diverted around the place and which of course is frustrating.

So if traditional shopping is going down the pan and everything goes online, towns are just going to have to rely on entertainment and in person services to survive, and give any sense of vibrancy. Those markets are already at saturation point.

There is also a drive to reduce consumerism for environmental reasons, yet the economy relies on the trading of widgets and services. When any industry collapses, the unemployed as a result don't have the money to support other business bar the essentials. It's a zero sum game.

Technological advances change so quickly that it's hard to keep up.

There's only so much innovation small businesses can incorporate on dwindling capital.

Let's face it - we're heading for a world where the majority do everything online and only venture out for fun occasionally - economically things are going to implode before long, and as for the long term psychological damage being done by it all, well, plenty of evidence of that all around us.

Bottom line, very few people actually care about anything except their own immediate gratification.

Bit fundamentally if people work Monday-Friday then they cannot use the local shop if it is only open m-f 9-5.

It's that simple.

I WFH, I can finish at 5pm and go to the shop or I can go before work. On the days that I go into the office, I can stop on my way so before 9 or on my way home so after 5.

It is not saturated with other businesses. It is just the other main competitor is willing to adapt to what the customers want. They have expanded three times now so the demand is clearly there.

Meanwhile the early closing place complains about lack of customers…

Most people don’t complain. Heh just get on with their lives, shopping where it suits them. This kind of huffy attitude towards customers is never going to preserve a business.

Yes, I agree with this. They aren't bothered when something that never worked for them in the first place is no longer there to still not work for them.

You'll always get the drama llamas who cry about small businesses closing, but who never used them themselves. Of course, nobody can take them seriously if they genuinely think that a little local shop can continue to exist as a pretty ornament without anybody ever using it.

Quite obviously they've taken the decision not to expand.
These reasons will be personal to the owner/owners.
Businesses can make decisions based on how they want to run, not on what, you, think is the correct way to operate.

Businesses can make decisions based on how they want to run, not on what, you, think is the correct way to operate

Absolutely they can. But then they have to be prepared for the financial consequences too which may involve losing money.

I wonder why we don't see more automated takeaway coffee premises, really. Obviously not going to attract the 'purists', but as instant Costa machines are A Thing, why not just have little high street lobbies open 24/7 (or maybe closing for a few hours overnight, where vandalism could be an issue).

There would need to be security and safety measures, of course, but I'm sure these could be thought out and implemented.

I don't know whether they still do the same thing now, but when I lived in Europe 20+ years ago, they had 24/7 glass bottle-return machines in the walls of shops (that would issue you with a ticket in return of your deposit); they also had people come out early in the morning at weekends and put the newspapers in bags on lamp-posts, for you to help yourself and put money in the box.

I'm thinking that there may be some middle-ways whereby an actual person needs to attend at some point, but doesn't need to stay there permanently. I guess that's one of the big attractions of having online stores, allowing people to order whenever they like and you only having to check in periodically when it suits you to process the orders and dispatch the goods.

They way up whether the extra is worth it.

Dp does it, is the type of work and the customer worth it?
The customer on the other hand thinks, why does this person not want my money? He had a call on Friday, and this Sunday, how much will it be, do you charge a call-out? In his line of work people asking those questions are either passed on or rejected outright

Of course. I’m not expecting them to operate the way I want them too.

They just need to stop whinging that the customers are going elsewhere. Customers are voting with their feet. They want to shop after 3.45pm.

I agree. But I’m referring to businesses who do this then moan they can’t make ends meet.

You can’t have it both ways I’m afraid.

Wonderful for your DP. But hardly applicable to a fruit and veg shop.

When my DH and I both WFH, have budgeted the time and the money we like to go out for lunch together.

We kept trying to support local businesses but it was almost impossible to find any open.

We ended up going to a shopping centre near by rather than supporting our local high street.

I don’t think some businesses understand that there is a playoff between cost/convenience. Often you are willing to pay more if it’s convenient to you.
I used to go to a sewing shop. Not the greatest but nearish with free parking. Could run over and buy something no bother.
They decided they didn’t want a physical shop so went on markets. Problem is they are during the week, often miles away. They grouched on Facebook about ‘not seeing regulars’ but I imagine people don’t want to travel 20 miles for a reduced selection.
They also tried then also selling online, but because of the postage costs they aren’t worth it AND there is loads of other places to go to online instead.

I also worked for a business that was normally on markets but started opening for direct sales on Saturday mornings. Except it wasn’t every week. And they owner would change her mind. She wouldn’t update FB.
She would then be furious when she did open that it wasn’t rammed like the first time she did it. People went and found it closed and wouldn’t go again. Don’t blame them