Are you sure you’re paying a fair rent or even one that can’t be negotiated down?  

You’d be surprised by what better terms your landlord might be able to offer you if you make a good case for it. 

Not sure you want to do the negotiating yourself or even what you want to negotiate?

We’ve teamed up with Cedar Dean: the UK’s leading specialists in helping business owners like you re-negotiate their leases. 

Their team can help you to:

• Reduce your rent 
• Re-structure your lease 
• Settle rent arrears 
• Renew your lease on better terms 
• Surrender an unwanted lease
• And more 

Here’s a quick video from Noelle Hegarty at Cedar Dean with more information:

Whatever your lease needs are, Cedar Dean can help. 

All you need to do is fill in this quick form and they’ll be in touch to offer a specialist, one-to-one call, completely free of charge, to help you re-negotiate your lease.

There are absolutely no hidden fees here and you’ll only pay anything if they can manage to save you money.

Complete the form now and get better terms on your lease for 2023 and beyond. 

SaveTheHighStreet.org is on your side

We know how difficult it is out there right now but we’re to help in any way we can. 

We can help you to directly cut costs by:

Securing you the best deal on your energy bills (click to get started)  

Re-negotiating your lease (click to get started)  

Working with you on our all-new accelerator (click to find out more)  

JO, our unique online assistant for high street businesses, can also help you to get things done in an affordable way that’ll help stretch and grow your money. 

Head over to JoinJO.com to find out more. 

Have any questions about how we can help you this year and beyond?

Get in touch with us on hello@savethehighstreet.org. 

The post How to re-negotiate your lease as a high street business first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

There are a multitude of organisations across the UK that are there to help businesses thrive in modern retail. These organisations range in their scale and specificity. From local to national. From very general to highly specialised. They’re here to promote successful and sustainable business and they’ll be very happy help you too.

What Can These Organisations do for you?

Well an awful lot as it happens. These organisations are dedicated to helping local independents thrive on the high street. Some provide training for your employees. Some offer specialist loans and financial support. Others will help you connect with other businesses in your industry, like suppliers, delivery drivers, etc.

For Example…

BIDs (or Business Improvement Districts) are government funded organisations that promote the business of their local area. Pretty much everywhere in the UK has a BID associated with it. If you’ve never heard of yours just try looking them up. BIDs are one of the groups offering training and loans for businesses in their area and while the BID program spans the nation, each individual BID is working more specifically for their area.

Meanwhile, bira (AKA the British Independent Retailer Association) are a nationwide group comitted to supporting independent retailers across a number of areas. bira has grown since it’s founding 117 years ago. In this time the organisation has expanded to deal with the majority of issues facing modern independents. Bira offer everything from financial services and preferential card rates, to discounts on health insurance and hotels, to legal advice and support, even a debt collection service. Membership isn’t free, but bira certainly has the services to make up any costs.

The Retail Mutual, on the other hand, is a more specialised organisation. It offers independent retailers an alternative to traditional insurance. Offering home cover, business cover and landlord cover, the Retail Mutual is dedicated to protecting independent retailers from the kinds of financial shocks that big chains can shrug off, but small retailers can’t. The retail mutual is founded on the strength of the retail community. Their message at the High Street Conference in September was ‘you’re independent, but you’re not alone’.

And Many More

These are just three examples of business communities that are supporting the high street and independent retailers. There are other organisations out there. Some are government funded. Others are private companies. Many are national, or even international, while others may be as small as a single town or even a single high street. Whatever the case may be, these organisations can do a lot to help independents stay competitive and even thrive on the high street. Just give a quick search for what organisations are relevant for your shop and your area and see what these business communities can do for you.

If you’d like to know more about business communities and organisations, feel free to get in touch.

Remember to check out our special offers from bira and the Retail Mutual. See what business communities can do for you!

The post Know Your Local Business Organisations first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Online accounting is a great way to smooth the process of accounting. It takes away the friction of frequent visits to the bank or to your accountants. It lets you keep track of your cash flow, costs and profits at the drop of a hat. And it doesn’t require great blocks of paper, filling cabinet upon cabinet with fiddly paper work. Modern, online accounting is efficient, it’s convenient and it’s going to help independents stay on top of their finances.

Online Accounting is Accounting on Demand

Online accounting gives you a 24/7 connection to the financial information you need to keep your shop running. This means you can have the financial knowledge you need, when you need to make those big decisions. No more waiting for the bank or your accountant to get back to you. No more putting off important decisions until you can get your hands on the information you need about your own shop. With online accounting all this information can be quite literally at your fingertips.

This is a great way for online accounting to empower independent shopkeepers and level the playing field with big chains. Big companies can afford to have a large in-house accounting team. The reason they maintain large teams of accountants is so that they can have the knowledge they need, when they need it. This is expensive and most independents don’t have the resources for it. Online accounting is a great way to even the odds and get on-demand financial support.

And it Doesn’t Require a Small Forest of Paper

This is something that can only be appreciated after years of offline accounting. The stack of paper that can build up with accounting work is a staggering thing. Especially when you don’t have an in-house accounting team like the big chains do. It’s a lot of paper for a small team to look after and without time-consuming frequent audits you can build up a backlog of unnecessary paper work. Paper work that you can’t be sure you need, but aren’t certain you can get rid of either.

Online accounting, on the other hand, is paper free. You don’t need filing cabinet upon filing cabinet of old papers and statements, you can view it all online. It’s stored away electronically, in easy to access, easy to catalogue online storage. You’ll never lose an important piece of paper again and it’ll all be filed away for you automatically.

If you’d like to learn more about online accounting, feel free to get in touch with us here.

The post How Online Accounting Can Make Your Shop More Efficient first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

With an average growth of business by 20% in their first year, Lightspeed customers see the difference. Join Lightspeed today and take advantage of this exclusive offer with 50% off eCommerce with a purchase of Lightspeed Retail and a free Bluetooth scanner worth £169.99 as a welcome gift with any contract signed for a minimum of 1 year.

Lightspeed Retail. The EPOS system that simplifies your business.

The post Get 50% Off eCommerce with Lightspeed Retail: Make Data Driven Decisions first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

It takes money to make money. Everything retail needs a little cash to get going. From renting space, to buying stock, to manning your shop Everything you need to do to get started and make sales takes a little money to get going in the first place. If you want a little cash to kick-start your business or to help you realise your shop’s full potential, there are three main avenues you can go down: investment, grants and loans.

So, What’s the Difference?

Well all three involve raising funds for your business. All three bring those funds in from an external source. But in terms of how they work, what’s expected of you and what your beneficiary gets out of it, they’re all different.

Direct investment involves receiving the money you need to grow, in return for a stake in your business. This money is coming from people or organisations that see the potential in your business. You don’t need to pitch investors on what your business is so much as what it’s going to be. You’ll get the money you need for your shop. Your investors get a say in your business and the possibility of a return on their investment.

Grants, on the other hand, are usually issued by a company or organization that wants to support certain kinds of business. They’ll usually come with certain prerequisites. A particular grant will be for a particular sector, or for companies of a certain size or turnover. One of the great things about grants is that, so long as you meet the requirements, there aren’t usually any further strings attached and you won’t normally have to pay any money back further down the line.

Meanwhile, loans are a source of capital that we’re all probably a little more familiar with. They’re a pretty easy concept to understand. You receive a certain amount of money that you must pay back, at a certain rate of interest. Loans will often have prerequisites as well. However, they’ll usually be less about what sort of business you are and more about your likelihood of paying the loan back.

So, Which is Right for Independent Retailers?

At the end of the day, all three of these are viable options for independents. Grants are a great source of money, without any meddling investors or draconian interest rates. But, as with all good things, they’re in rather high demand and applying for a dream grant can be a bit like playing the lottery.

Loans, on the other hand, are very reliable. There are plenty of places to get a business loan and while they may come with labyrinthine terms and contracts, the details are all there for you to see.

Investment is another beast altogether. It’s hard to recommend whether a shop should seek investment or not, because it’s so variable. Some investors are just looking to have a hand in helping an independent shop grow. Other investors want a hard, by-the-numbers return on investment. Some investors will let you do your thing the way you want. Others will want a direct hand in the running of your business. There can be hidden benefits to investment, like finding an investor that’s worked in your field who can help with mentoring your employees or put you in touch with others in the industry. There can also be unexpected problems when an investor relationship turns sour.

Bear these differences in mind when making your decision on which funding path you want to take. But also remember that all three are viable solutions and all three have their pros and cons. No two independent shops are the same and so no two independent shops will have the same experience of loans, grants, or investment. You need to weigh your options and do what’s best for you and your shop.

The post Investment, Grants, and Loans: What’s Best for Your Business? first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Point-of-sale software can do an awful lot for your shop. All the big chains have been using point-of-sale software for years and with retail becoming an ever more competitive field, independents can’t afford to fall behind. Currently as few as one in three independent retailers are using POS software. The rest are running on pen-and-paper, or excel spreadsheets.

For some retailers these old-fashioned ways of handling sales and inventory are a point of pride. It’s a good feeling to know you’re keeping up without having to rely on these modern, electronic systems. But by passing these duties on to an ePOS system, that keeps track of your business automatically you can focus your efforts on other important parts of your business that can’t be run by a machine. Without having to fill in spreadsheets or hand-count inventory, you and your staff can save a huge amount of time. And remember, time is money, especially in retail.

If used properly, an ePOS system can be your new star employee. But first you need to know just what exactly point-of-sale software can do. Which is an awful lot. From tracking stock, to following your employees’ sales figures, to keeping track of loyal customers through their card payments. Point-of-sale software can do it all. Even if you’re one of the independents that has POS software in place, you might not be making the most of it. Many retailers don’t realise the full extent of what point-of-sale software can do for you. well, really, it all starts with tracking.

Tracking, Tracking, Tracking

And yet more tracking. It’s one of the most fundamental uses of point-of-sale software. You can use it to track sales and instantly connect your sales figures to your stock. You can use it to automatically monitor what your customers are buying and when they like to make their purchases. You can keep an eye on which of your employees are making these sales. You can follow your loyal customers and what they like to buy.

As we’ve all heard before, knowledge is power. By tracking these stats you can shape how you sell and who you target. You can shape staff rotas so you have the manpower you need, at the times you need it most. You can keep track of when your best customers like to shop and make sure you’re there to greet them personally. A little knowledge can go a long way to helping your business thrive.

After Tracking Comes Analysis

Data is a valuable thing. With good analysis, data can inform even the toughest business decisions, letting you manage your business with confidence. And the thing is, your business has data. Data on every sale you make, every customer that buys from your shop, every item you sell. You have information on what sells when. You have info on which of your employees sells the most. Which of your customers buys the most when they shop. But most retailers aren’t making use of this data. Many retailers don’t realise that they have this data at their fingertips. Even if you do realise the value of it, getting this data together to analyse can be very time consuming. Fortunately, all good ePOS offer real-time sales reports, to keep you informed.

With the right point-of-sale software you can analyse all this data you collect to not just track what’s been going on, but also predict what will happen next. Knowing what sold well, at what points in a year means you can predict what will sell well, when, next year. Without this sort of data analysis you’ve got to make a lot of guesses and assumptions. With it, you can make confident, fact-driven decisions that are more likely to have a bigger, more positive impact on your business.

Make sure to check out this article from Ashley Gilgrist at ePOS provider Vend. It covers a lot of the reasons why independents are getting ePOS for their shops and why return buyers are willing to put more money into their ePOS.

Get a 30 day free trial of Vend’s EPOS for retail!

Lastly, if you have any further questions about point-of-sale software, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The post Point-of-Sale Software: What Can it Do For You? first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

With Expressly, retailers only pay on results – you only pay on what you sell. And Expressly is offering SaveTheHighStreet.org members £200 worth of fees covered on any paid campaign online campaign!

Sign up with Expressly for free and get £200 worth of fees covered for any paid campaign.

Fill in the form below to take advantage of this offer…

The post Smooth Payments For Your Customers Online and Connect With the Expressly Network first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Sign up for Square’s point-of-sale technology and your first £1,000 of card transactions will be processed free of fees!

Take the pain out of payments and make your first £1,000 with Square without transaction processing fees! Valid within 180 days of your sign-up.

Sign up with Square here and seize this incredible opportunity!

The post £1,000 of Fee-Free Card Processing With Square Point-of-Sale first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Many retailers worry about getting proper EPOS and inventory management systems in their store. Why worry? Well, many retailers already have a system for managing their inventory. Whether they keep pen-and-paper records, or an excel spreadsheet based filing system. Retailers are an adaptable breed of people. For these retailers, not having an EPOS system was a problem they overcame, with the resources they had at the time. But now, many of these retailers are happy with their method and don’t think they have the time or money to install a different system.

The Time and Money Myth

What you might not realise, is that having a professional EPOS system can actually save you time and money, in the long run. Many retailers believe that these professional systems are too complicated for their business. Running these systems would be time consuming and a waste of money. But this is far from the truth of the matter.

EPOS systems are designed to run themselves, without taking up too much of their owners time. These systems cut out all the time spent with pen or mouse in hand, tallying up lists of stock. Instead, your connected EPOS system can track stock as you sell. Giving you a report on your stock, without wasting any of your time or your employees time counting stock by hand.

So EPOS can save you time, but as we all know, time is money. Giving you more time to work on your shop means you can actually gain money by having an EPOS. A few hours of your time a week can be very valuable. By not spending your valuable time on things like inventory, you can attend to more pressing matters.

Save Time, Money and…

Of course, with time and money comes the most important thing of all: peace of mind. You won’t have to worry about finding the time to manage inventory and a little extra money always helps to ease the mind. With a professional EPOS system in place, you’ll have one less thing to worry about.

Take a FREE 30 day trial of Vend EPOS!

If you have any questions or you just want to get in touch, contact us here

The post Myths Debunked: How EPOS Can Save You Time and Money first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

We are dedicated to providing business, home, liability and residential landlord cover exclusively for independent retailers. Unlike a traditional insurance company, we are owned by our Members and operated for their common benefit, with no shareholders and no dividends to pay. We are passionate about protecting the independent retail businesses on our high streets and have a strong reputation for supporting them in their time of need.

Save £50 on your business cover today

We would love the opportunity to show you what makes The Retail Mutual different. That’s why we’re offering Save The High Street members a fantastic £50 discount on your first year’s business cover quote. Simply contact us for a price and you could save £50 today.

Not ready to renew?

Register your details here and we’ll contact you when your renewal is due to offer you a business cover quote and your fantastic £50 SaveTheHighStreet.org discount.

The Retail Mutual benefits

• Business cover, Home cover and Landlord cover
• Tailored for the needs of independent retailers
• 18 years of retail know-how
• Fast and sympathetic approach to claims handling
• No interest charges
• No admin or cancellation fees
• Special discount offer for Save The High Street members

Call 0333 2127 262 now for a quote

Visit TheRetailMutual.com/STHS  to claim your £50 discount, or email sales@theretailmutual.com quoting reference STHS50.

Our Price Promise

We will discount your business cover quote by £50. Available to new Members for the first year only, not available in conjunction with any other offer. Subject to normal underwriting criteria. Minimum contributions apply. Quotes valid for 30 days, offer valid from 1 November to 31 December 2017. The Retail Mutual reserves the right to withdraw, change or amend this offer at any time. For full terms and conditions see www.theretailmutual.com/sths.

Call 0333 2127 262 for a quote or email sales@theretailmutual.com quoting reference STHS50.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The post Save £50 with The Retail Mutual first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.