# Nearly half of UK e-tail businesses ‘expecting sales to get worse before they get better’ > As the UK's tricky economic circumstances continue to exert pressure on businesses big and small in the run-up to Christmas, new survey results have been Updated: 2024-03-18 November 30, 2022 As the UK’s tricky economic circumstances continue to exert pressure on businesses big and small in the run-up to Christmas, new survey results have been released showing how firms are dealing with those challenges, and what they consider their prospects to be for the year to come. ## **The cost-of-living crisis, inflation, and Brexit are key UK business headaches** To say that the last few years have been bruising for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across the UK would be quite an understatement. Factors including Brexit, COVID-19, and the cost-of-living crisis have presented businesses with tests that, in some cases, they might have never encountered previously. Those factors make it all the more insightful to peruse the results of a study recently undertaken by an American financial services company, which found that UK eCommerce businesses were facing a range of issues and having to get imaginative in how they dealt with them. Nearly half of the SMBs questioned, for example – 41% – said they only expected business to become more difficult over the coming 12 months. 64% of respondents said that for the year ahead, they anticipated economic uncertainty would be the greatest threat or challenge to their business – only just ahead of the 62% who cited inflationary pressures. Some 68% of participants in the research – more than two-thirds – claimed to have experienced lower sales as a direct consequence of Brexit. And when it came to investing more in order to increase sales abroad, 53% of those questioned said they regarded the rising cost of living as a barrier to this. ### **Small firms are finding various ways to overcome their biggest challenges** So, what _are_ these small-to-medium-sized e-tail businesses doing to tackle the above issues? The survey was instructive on that front, too, with a whopping 46% of those polled stating they were now looking at direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales as the biggest opportunity for their business over the year to come. 38%, meanwhile, said they were looking to social commerce. The research also discovered that 58% of the polled eCommerce firms said they would look to provide consumers with new deals and offers, while 31% signalled an intention to freeze prices. 7% of businesses questioned even said they were looking to the metaverse. ### **Many businesses, it seems, continue to be optimistic** For all the gloom set out by the above findings, it appears that plenty of UK e-tail businesses still have a ‘can-do’ attitude and strong ambitions for 2023. Some 62% of them, for example, said they were likely to expand their online presence over the year ahead. And more than a third – 36% – signalled that they were looking to enter new markets during the next 12 months. There’s no doubt about it – businesses up and down the UK are continuing to face colossal challenges, but they are also doggedly pursuing opportunities, and look set to keep on doing that in 2023. For a conversation about how our own up-to-the-minute [digital accountancy in Plymouth](https://tspartners.co.uk/), Wellington or Newton Abbot here at TS Partners could help put your firm in a stronger position to achieve its own ambitions in the New Year, why not [enquire to us now via phone or email](https://tspartners.co.uk/office-locations/)? [News and insights](https://tspartners.co.uk/news-and-insights/category/news-and-insights/)