Beautiful Britain 2016 | Page 6

LACK OF LOYALTY Despite this positive outlook, the nature of our industry and the way customer spending habits have changed means that securing long-term loyalty remains one of the biggest threats to business in 2016. Two-thirds of you are having to work harder to get customers through the door. More than half of professionals (54%) find loyalty difficult to embed in their business, with professionals in Northern Ireland (76%) and the North East (60%) - the regions where optimism is also lowest – citing the lowest rate of loyalty. London and the South East have the most loyal customers. In a generation of deal-driven, money saving shoppers the biggest impact on loyalty is consumers shopping around for the cheapest deals – with 78% of you finding this one of the biggest challenges. Over half of professionals are still losing customers to online voucher and discount sites – 56% claim this poses a threat to their business. However, only 7% admit to using these services – perhaps a missed opportunity for professionals. THE % OF PROFESSIONALS WHO FIND LOYALTY HARD TO EMBED IN THEIR BUSINESS BY REGION EAST 2015 56% 2016 55% of professionals have had to work harder to bring in customers 2015 57% 2016 52% â LONDON 2015 57% 2015 64% 2016 60% â â NORTH WEST 56% 2016 58% feel online voucher and deal sites pose a threat to retaining customers 2015 61% â NORTHERN IRELAND 2016 76% 2015 58% 2016 58% ßà SOUTH WEST 2015 56% 2016 55% â SOUTH EAST NORTH EAST 2015 59% 06 â EAST MIDLANDS 2016 45% 60% SCOTLAND á 2015 52% 2016 44% â WALES 2015 68% 2016 59% â WEST MIDLANDS 2015 62% 2016 57% â YORKSHIRE & HUMBER 2015 51% 2016 58% á