Like many other people in the industry, early October was dominated for me by two major travel conferences.
First was Abta’s Travel Convention where the mood felt rather subdued. While I was busy in meetings and did not attend many of the sessions, the feedback from fellow delegates was that there was a fair amount of doom and gloom over the economy.
By contrast, the Travolution Summit and Awards, just days later, felt much more upbeat – and I’m not just saying that because Teletext Holidays picked up two awards!
One session with HSBC chief economist Dennis Turner felt particularly positive – he was saying he expected consumer spending to increase and that the UK should see a return to growth next year.
With all the recent uncertainty in the eurozone and the threat of another recession, it’s almost impossible to predict who is right and what will happen next year.
On top of the general uncertainty, travel has its own particular challenges: we are about to face a natural slowdown in the lead up to Christmas, while stats from GfK NOP suggest a third of people in Britain did not take a foreign holiday this year.
The default position of many companies at times like these is to batten down the hatches, cut costs and simply hope to struggle through and grow again when there is an upturn. But I’m not convinced that this is the way forward. Companies can become vulnerable as costs are cut, staff start to reflect on the mood, customer service suffers and there is a high likelihood that when things improve, you start to grow again from a small base or a position of weakness.
When I see companies that have seized the initiative in choppy times and have managed to grow and innovate, they are flourishing because they invested at the right time and have tapped into what people want in tough times – value for money.
Getting it right
Companies such as Groupon have been excellent at picking up on what people are looking for, which is simply a good deal, and then delivering those deals to customers in an accessible way.
It has invested in the right people, the right idea, the right technology and the right delivery methods and has been successful.
More traditional companies such as Marks & Spencer have benefitted from innovative thinking. Look how popular their Dine In For Two for £10 offer has been.
Companies that innovate and invest now are likely to be the ones that will be ahead of the game when the climate improves.
Some companies may not have the cashflow to invest but there is always the capacity for new thinking. It costs nothing, so why not send your staff away with a notebook and ask them to come up with new ideas? You never know, one of them might turn out to be the next big money spinner.