The UK party industry has a love-hate relationship with the internet and e-commerce, reveals Progressive Party Europe’s most recent research into the UK party retail market.
According to the survey of UK party retailers, which returned in 2017 for the eighth consecutive year, 100% of the respondents have increased their social media presence in the last 12 months in order to generate custom, while also listing mass e-commerce growth as having the most detrimental effect during the same period.
Taking full advantage of the valuable free marketing opportunities offered on social media sites, PPE was able to report that all respondents claimed to have given their business a boost by further utilising Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites.
At the same time, the rapid growth of mass e-commerce websites was named as having the most detrimental effect on UK party trade across the high street (closely followed by supermarkets and rising overheads). More specifically, the internet was seen by more than a third of respondents (34%) as being more of a threat to the independent trader than supermarkets and discounts stores.
However, online activity also took two of the top three spots for factors which had boosted retailer’s business or had a positive effect on trade. The top spot went to introducing a new website (or developing an existing one), while the overall effectiveness of social media saw it take the third position.
