Smaller UK fashion retailers see Brexit and tech as threats says survey

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 18, 2019

UK fashion retailers see Brexit as a huge challenge for their businesses in the year ahead and almost half of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) feel unprepared for whatever the final outcome of the Brexit process will be.

That’s the result of a new study from finance solutions provider Duologi. It spoke to 500 SMEs and found 18% citing Brexit as their biggest challenge with 45% saying they’re unprepared for it.

Other challenges to their businesses include keeping up with new technology and bigger online players stealing customers. 

As mentioned, a lot of these retailers feel unprepared for the big event that’s currently due to happen by January 31 and are concerned that the future of European trading relationships are unclear.

But just as many cited a need to keep up with new technologies as their biggest challenge, saying small fashion businesses struggle to establish an online presence and stand out on the high street as they have significantly lower budgets than national and international competitors.

And a small-but-significant 8% believe the decline of the high street will be the hardest hurdle to overcome in the coming year, after more than a year in which business failures have dominated the headlines. Some 9% of them fear bigger players like Amazon will steal their customers, due to its ability to offer lower prices and its greater visibility online.