One-quarter of UK SMEs don’t have a business plan

We explore the elements that can improve your company’s growth prospects.

Builders’ merchants will be well aware that it’s important to plan for every eventuality to remain successful in business, but new research shows that many small retailers don’t have a business plan in place to show the short-term and long-term goals of their business. Only 47% of respondents in a survey carried out for Barclays said that their business had a formal, recorded or written business plan, with an additional 25% having an informal business plan. That leaves 23% (rounded) without any business plan at all.

The survey found that SMEs that had been operating for more than 35 years were most likely to have a business plan, with two-thirds having one in place, whereas only 35% of businesses between six and ten years old had a business plan. Businesses in the south and east of England were most likely to have a business plan (52%).

Barclays’ research also identified some of the leading contributors to SME growth. 26% of SMEs believed that enhancing or improving existing products and services had significant impact on revenue growth, while other top answers included entering a new market (26%), launching a new product or service (24%) and hiring new staff (20%).

Business plans are key to establishing and growing your business, alongside the growth measures mentioned above. Retail and point-of-sale software provides you with all the data you need to make business decisions with confidence. See margins for each product at the point-of-sale, track overall sales on each product or product category and track your revenue, outgoings and profit.

Take a look at more features of our builders’ merchant software and get in touch to arrange a demo.