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Mission for Markets

Issue One — Next Generation of Market Trader Markets Renewed RETAIL MARKET DECLINE “Gone are the days of a casual list — our markets haven’t been at full capacity for years. Traders aren’t passing their businesses on to their children any more.” 14 Market Manager, Stockton-on-Tees Roadshow This is the biggest issue facing the traditional retail markets sector in the UK. It is clear to both NABMA and the NMTF that, in a few short years, the retail sector has changed radically and many traditional retail markets have struggled to adapt to the pace. Supermarkets are kings of convenience. Big brand retailers are beasts on our nation’s high streets. And, in times of austerity, the general public are prioritising convenience, shopping little and often. Our traditional retail markets have been squeezed. In five years the retail markets sector has shrunk by a third. From 2009 to 2015, £1 billion has been wiped from the ledgers and 12,000 businesses have packed up their stalls and ceased trading. The sector now has a collective turnover of £2.5 billion a year from around 33,000 market traders. Retail markets are not alone in this decline. Since 2008 UK plc has struggled in the aftermath of one of the deepest and most prolonged recessions in recent history. Tentative signs of a national recovery began in 2014 but many regions continue to feel the impact of the downturn. The outcome for many retail markets has been to operate under capacity. The average stall occupancy of retail markets in England is 72 per cent. This figure plummets to 46 per cent if you assume that businesses only occupy one pitch each. Effectively, traders are doubling up and spreading out. But it’s not all doom and gloom. In 2013 the retail sector turned a corner — the Office for National Statistics reported a net gain in independent retailers and the highest number of new entrants for 10 years1a. In 2014 RBS noted that 40 per cent of early age entrepreneurs wanted to start a business in retail2. In the same year, areas of the UK that had experienced major industrial decline were reported by Start Up Britain to have above average numbers of start-ups3. Companies House also noted that the number of firms dropping out of their register fell six per cent from the previous year4. In 2015, Lord Young, the Prime Minister’s adviser on enterprise, heralded a “golden age” for small business5. He emphasised the need for incubation space for startups, which includes short-term, flexible lease options and tailored business support in order to accelerate growth. This is where markets can make an impact. As a platform for trading, the greatest strength of the market format is its flexibility and adaptability. Put simply, markets give customers what they want. If there is demand, markets give traders the opportunity to grow their business. RETAIL MARKET GROWTH “New traders need to be well prepared for market trading — investing £50 in stock and sitting behind a stall just won’t work.” Market Trader, NMTF AGM There are great examples from all over the UK of traders who have recently started and grown businesses from retail markets. Initiatives such as the NMTF’s First Pitch start-up scheme and NABMA’s Love Your Local Market campaign demonstrate this. Since 2012, through NABMA’s annual Love Your Local Market campaign, 10,000 pitches have been pledged to new traders at discounted rates to test out their business ideas. Over 1,200 markets took part in 2015 and the message of LYLM made more than 60 million imprints in social media. In 2013, the NMTF’s national start-up scheme, First Pitch, received more than 350 applications for 100 pitches on markets all over the UK. After receiving a business support package that included discounted rent and mentoring 33 per cent are still trading on markets or market-type events. Both initiatives were successful in securing £50,000 each from external backers. For NABMA, this was the UK Government, and for the NMTF the RBS Group. Unfortunately the continuation of the two schemes is now in jeopardy as the funding was awarded on a short-term basis.


Mission for Markets
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