Sauvignon from Shanghai 
Cartoon courtesy of shorelines Art Surprisingly China is the world’s sixth largest producer of wine. Currently China has 400 vineyards and has plans to expand this tenfold. By 2058 you could well be buying a supermarket Sauvignon Blanc sourced from China. In contrast the long running draught in Australia has affected supplies and production. If this situation continues it seems likely that Australian producers will move away from large scale production to specialist wines, leaving room for Chinese wines to move into the mass market. Source Future of Wine Back to the top Firm up your Marketing & Advertising Whatever the economic climate marketing and advertising should be carefully thought out, planned, budgeted for and monitored. When times are good it is easy to stray from marketing budgets and plans. The chance to advertise in a new magazine or on a web directory seems worth the gamble. In the good times we are so busy that we neglect to monitor the success of these ads, meanwhile payment for the ad blows our marketing budget. Use threats of downturns in the economy not to cut your marketing, PR and advertising but to streamline it to keep it tight and more important of all to make sure it is effective. The key to ensuring a successful business is a steady pipeline of business leads and planned effective marketing will deliver this. So by all means cut out the biscuits for meetings, but history has shown that those brands who push through down turns with clear and consistent marketing campaigns emerge as the strongest survivors. Tim Lindsay, Chief executive of advertising giant TBWA says, “There’s tons of evidence from the last 2 recessions showing that brands which continue to invest in marketing communications during a recession prosper mightily afterwards. The tea market is often cited as an example: PG continued to invest last time round and grew its share. Tetley and Typhoo didn’t, and are much diminished as a consequence.” My top ten tips to survive when times are good or bad. 1. Set an annual marketing budget whatever size your business 2. Make a marketing plan based on your budget and your business goals 3. If you offer business to business services networking should be a key part of your marketing. 4. Use your web site as a means to generate enquiries or to provide your customers with further information 5. Build on and offline PR into your marketing plan 6. Make sure your existing customers are up to date with all the services you provide 7. Check out your competition on and offline to see what they are doing 8. Monitor where enquiries are coming from, so you know which of your marketing activities are effective 9. If you are considering advertising plan it as a long term investment and ask for discounts 10. Ask existing customers for referrals and testimonials Back to the top Internet Farm shop News Enter the Internet Farm shop FREE Christmas prize draw to win a voucher for a cookery demonstration at Harmony House Cookery school and a cookery book worth £20. Simply sign up for the farm shop newsletter. Small business success Changes in the economy and loss of confidence by consumers is bad news for some businesses but some thrive in such conditions. For example Ben Thomson started a bicycle repair shop in London in October 2007 using £200 borrowed from his girlfriend. Six months later business was so good that he moved to a larger premises and began to expand from repairs to building custom made bicycles and to selling accessories. Meanwhile again in London a shoe repair shop has seen an increase in business by 30%. The owner said 'The last time is was like this was 1991, but it wasn't as big as this.' Larger businesses need venues for conferences and training whatever the economic climate according to Etc venues who provide simple city centre venue in London and Birmingham, they have seen an increase in sales of 36% since July. As you would imagine Pawnbrokers are doing well but less obvious is an engineering consultancy which works with companies such as Rolls Royce, BA, Nissan, Cadbury and the NHS. The duo who run Newton Consulting have seen sales rise by 50% on last year. Partner Ian quest said 'In good times the companies called us because they wanted to increase productivity, but now they want to make their processes more cost-efficient. And unsurprisingly the pizza man is doing well. An eight strong chain of take away pizzas shop selling gourmet pizzas based in London is seeing an increase in sales of 5% on last year Source the Sunday Times Back to the Top How easy is it for you to buy fine quality wines from family run vineyards? You will not find the wines Andrassy's sell on supermarket shelves. Andrassy fine Wines are a family run business and they buy from family run wineries in France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Portugal and New Zealand. www.andrassy.co.uk |
2. Gap year is so last year The gap year is becoming less popular as young people decide to go straight to university instead of taking a year out. Rising costs and rents mean parents are now encouraging their children to begin their higher education studies sooner rather than later, as a result the gap year market is declining as a result. In 2005 it was worth £2.5 billion. Commonly students are settling for an eight to twelve week break in the summer before going to university. source The Guardian 3. Back to the top Looking for a way to bring your team together? Looking to reward your staff? Opt for one of our unforgettable Ready Steady cook style team building days where you and your team will work together to learn new skills and discover how working together can produce surprising results. Harmony house Cookery School Ring 01904 720933 or 07889 808749 |
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and finally.............. It’s gorillas again. But this time its McKays Vladivar vodka . Bill boards magazines and newspapers will feature people waking up in a variety of predicaments. The inference being from the bottle of vodka by their side that they got too drunk to help themselves. One of the ads features a man waking up with a gorilla. The strap line is ‘drink quality not quantity’. and Research by TNS data has shown that people in the UK are spending more on pet food than they are on bread. Dog treats and organic pet foods are seeing growth in sales. Sales of dog treats were up 12.2% to £246m the equivalent of £36.27 per dog owner in the year up to August this year. Cat owners spent £13.27 per owner. A spokesman for Asda said ‘Premium products are in double growth in Asda this year.' Pouch dog foods are typically about 50% more expensive per gram than a tin of the same brand, according to Town and country pet foods. MD Peter Parkinson said ' Our own premium ranges are doing very well. Sales of pouch food were up 11.6% year on year. ‘ source The grocer | 
