On Thursday 12th August, BBC website news posted a report headed "UK Economy rebounds as Covid restrictions ease." This quoted data from the Office of National Statistics which showed that the UK economy grew by 4.8% between April and June 2021, with retail, restaurants and hotels as being among the sectors that were driving the expansion of GDP.
The report also carries this quote from Ruth Gregory, Senior UK Economist at Capital Economics: "We are comfortable with our view that monthly GDP will return to its February 2020 pre-pandemic size by October and that the economy may yet surprise most forecasters by emerging from the pandemic without much scarring."
Online sales flourish
There are also many indications that the Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled the growth in online sales and in opening new channels of communication. In spite of the easing of restrictions, the BBC recently posted news of a surge in online sales for Deliveroo. This report notes that: "The food delivery firm saw orders double to 148.8 million in the first half of this year, while the value of its transactions also doubled."
And this was the response of Deliveroo's Founder and chief executive Will Shu: "We are seeing strong growth and engagement across our marketplace as lockdowns continue to ease.
"Demand has been high amongst consumers. We have widened our consumer base, seen people continuing to order frequently and we now work with more food merchants than any other platform in the UK."
Positive predictions are proved right
Back in May of this year, BBI Brandboost published an article on this website about the predicted UK economic rebound and the opportunities it offered to businesses. We based our optimism on Bank of England forecasts and on the views of leading global economic and financial organisations.
Fast forward to the BBC report of 12th August, and our reasons for optimism appear to have been justified. So, we are confident that the advice we gave to businesses back then still holds true now:
"How best to take advantage of the economic resurgence needs careful strategic planning. In other words, businesses should determine what actions will be successful in reaching their specific markets and target audiences.
"Covid-19 has hugely increased the volume of global online traffic that was already at massive levels before the pandemic. In order for a business to "cut through the noise" it needs to use a range of measures to increase brand awareness and position itself above its competitors online. With the likely surge of economic activity in the UK, a powerful response in online communications could be imperative."
As restrictions are progressively lifted, there will be no turning back on the online future. It will remain an important element in retail sales, because it is convenient and people have been able to test the robustness of suppliers during periods of lockdown. Online communication will flourish because it has proved vital for keeping businesses and individuals connected and the technology that enables that connectivity is continually advancing.
BBI Brandboost fields a team of experienced and talented web developers and communications strategists that can produce websites and marketing solutions for every business sector. We are online communications and marketing specialists and we do what we say on the tin (and very well too). If you believe we could help your business get fully prepared for the opportunities and challenges of the online future, then please get in touch.