The growth of businesses in South London
Independent and local businesses are at the heart of any successful community and supporting them comes with huge benefits for the customer, the business itself and the local area in general. It has become apparent that local business across South London are doing better than ever, with the support of local costumers, local business partners and local investors.
There is no shortage of businesses throughout the southern part of the UK’s capital with all industries benefiting. This includes everything from builders in Kent to finding the right business for web design in Croydon.
The benefits of using local businesses
When it comes to using local businesses as opposed to outsourcing services, there are a multitude of benefits to be had. In addition to supporting the ‘local economy,’ it is well-established small and medium sized local businesses are the spine of the UK economy.
It is great for the local economy – Overall, local businesses and shopping at local businesses are much better for the economy then larger chains. For example, going to an independent coffee shop in your era is far more beneficial to economy than visiting a Costa Coffee or a Starbucks. Research has shown that spending £10 at a local story, means up to an additional £50 goes back into the local economy.
The creation and maintenance of local jobs – Investing into local businesses helps to create jobs for people in the local area. Small local businesses have shown that they are the largest employer nationally, according to research. In some cases, local businesses are willing to pay better wages and provide better workers benefits than larger, non-local companies.
You will receive better quality service – Local business owners are far more likely to be passionate about what they do, and therefore provide better service as a consequence as they would really care about costumer satisfaction and building relationships with the local clientele. Local businesses are more likely to go above and beyond to please their customers, for example, a local baker would probably not hesitate to spend extra hours crafting a cake that you have asked for, for a birthday or wedding, to get it exactly as you want it. Local businesses also typically rely on word-of-mouth and therefore want to be in the good books of all their customers, so that they will have recommendations amongst those in the local community. The customer experience overall will be therefore far more personalised and noteworthy.
Local businesses tend to invest more into charities and the community in general – People who buy locally are actually indirectly supporting their own community in more ways than one. Local businesses are far more likely to be generous in terms of giving back to their own local community, and local charities. It has been discovered through research that not for profit organisations on average receive 250% more support from local/small business than they do from larger, more national or international businesses. By default, local businesses are often more heavily involved in local community events and in supporting local causes since they will want the area to thrive, so that in turn they can too.
Supporting local entrepreneurs – Entrepreneurship fuels the economy of Britain as a whole. In buying and doing business with local companies helps to support British entrepreneurship. Local entrepreneurs can benefit greatly from local support, and in turn give back to the community in many ways. A famous case of a British entrepreneur is Sir Alan Sugar who started out by selling car aerials from the back of his van which was bought with his savings. At this time, he would have heavily relied on local support and local buyers to kick start his business into something much bigger.
Save the planet while you shop – Local business have been found to be more environmentally friendly than larger corporations. In general, local & small businesses tend to source locally and use less packaging, reducing their carbon footprint via less transportation costs and pollution. As a bonus, since the businesses are local they are more likely to be in walking distance, therefore less people using cars who live in the local area to get to them, including employees potentially.
South London and business
Recently, areas of south London have seen a boom in business. Croydon has issued a ‘supporting small & local businesses’ guide line to help attract businesses to the area and provide guidance. Croydon Council have set up a local enterprise partnership which spans across across the Gatwick Diamond, Brighton and Hove, West Sussex and Croydon.
Croydon’s council have stated that: “The Coast to Capital partnership focuses to create economic growth in an innovative, enterprising and international business environment. Business support initiatives include:
- Business Growth Grants
- Growing Places Fund
- International Trade Export Club
- Coast to Capital Business Navigator portal.
