Small businesses with curated online marketplace notonthehighstreet are bucking the job loss crisis seen across the retail sector with around half of the 5,000 independent sellers on the platform expanding workforces to cope with anticipated increased demand ahead of the retail Christmas peak.
With searches for “Christmas” by notonthehighstreet’s 3 million customers double of what they were this time last year, consumers are planning their Christmas spend earlier than ever and in preparation the platform’s small businesses are already recruiting Christmas staff and expanding workforces to meet demand.
New research from notonthehighstreet indicates that support for shopping small this Christmas will be stronger than ever, with nearly half of Brits saying that they are now shopping more with small businesses since lockdown. Fifty-nine percent of these people are doing so because they feel small businesses need the support while 47 percent say they enjoy the community feeling they get when shopping small.
“As a small business we are extremely proud of our staff who have enabled us to remain operational throughout lockdown and very grateful to our very supportive customers who have continued to shop with us and helped us grow during these challenging times. ‘Gifting happiness’ during lockdown and supporting smaller local businesses has really resonated with people and we are very proud to be part of this community. We expect to continue to grow in the run up to Christmas and are looking to employ an additional 60 seasonal staff to help us during this period.”
– Lisa Angel, Norwich based notonthehighstreet Partner
“Notonthehighstreet is home to 5,000 of the UK’s best small creative businesses and the agility of our entrepreneurs to quickly respond to changing customer needs throughout the pandemic has given them the opportunity to thrive.
We are heartened to see that nearly half of the UK have committed to supporting more of the small businesses who served them through lockdown as we know that there will be careful consideration as to where hard-earned money is being spent this Christmas.
The economic impact of Covid-19 has been incredibly tough for many businesses, particularly across the retail sector. It is therefore hugely encouraging that the small businesses who sell with notonthehighstreet are looking to expand their workforces and recruit locally to meet what we anticipate to be exceptional demand for unique and thoughtful gifts by independent sellers this Christmas. With even our sole-traders turning to family and friends to increase staffing levels as peak approaches it is important to remember that when buying from a small business you are directly helping the owner and their family.”
– Ella D’Amato, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, notonthehighstreet
