Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1205928
30.01.2020 2 NEWS DAVID HUDSON 21% of Maltese businesses participating in a survey conducted by the Malta Cham- ber of SMEs claimed that political instabil- ity resulted in a decrease in sales in 2019. 33% of businesses said that sales de- creased in 2019, 26% said that sales re- mained the same while 41% claimed that sales increased. When compared to how businesses re- sponded to a similar survey in the previ- ous year, the results show that businesses were negatively affected in 2019. In 2018, more than half, 51%, of businesses report- ed an increase in sales while only 17% re- ported a decrease. In 2019, respondents said that Black Friday was a pitiable affair — 53% of busi- nesses said that Black Friday proved below expectations, while only 8% said that it had exceeded their expectations. In 2018, the Malta Chamber of SMEs, previously known as GRTU, had report- ed that Black Friday sales had broken all records. at wasn't carried on to 2019 as a survey carried out by them last Decem- ber found that 65% of businesses were re- porting plummeting sales due to political instability. When asked what factors led to a bad showing during Black Friday, 31% of busi- nesses cited the political instability which culminated in the resignation of former prime minister Joseph Muscat and 10% said that traffic congestion was also a con- tributor. ose who reported an increase in prof- its said that this was due to the introduc- tion of new services and product lines (24%), and the increase in population and consumption (19%). ey still claimed that 2018 was a year that was hard to beat in terms of sales. ose who reported a decrease in profits said that higher operational costs were the culprit (20%), and higher staff costs (15%). In 2019, 39% were satisfied with sales during the festive season. In 2018, 49% were satisfied. In 2019, 21% of businesses all around Malta claimed that they were dissatisfied with sales during the festive season. In Valletta, this statistic rose to 40%, as continuous protests in the capital during that time deterred shoppers. 15% said power cuts were also to blame. MaltaToday had reported how a power-cut taking place two days before Christmas forced shops to close and many shopkeepers reported terrible sales when compared to previous years. When it comes to January sales, 38% of respondents said that sales and profits in January were below their expectations, 58% claimed they were in line with their expectations, while only 4% said that Janu- ary sales had exceeded expectations. Businesses were largely sceptical about whether the situation would improve: 39% of respondents said 2020 would prove the same as the previous year, 37% were hope- ful that sales would improve, and 24% said 2020 will be better. However, 25% of businesses said that de- spite everything, they would expand their business on the island in the coming years. Predicted challenges for 2020 cited were: increase in costs (13%), labour shortage (11%), increase labour costs (10%), politi- cal instability (10%), increased regulation and compliance costs (7%), economic in- stability (7%), bureaucracy (6%), and over- population (2%). e survey concluded that, "as expected, 2019 was slower than 2018 but even slow- er than expected and that over the whole year, turnover fared better than profitabil- ity." It found that 2020 started below expec- tations so far and that the political crisis had an effect on the festive season but dented overall business performance in 2019. "e timing the survey was carried out is important… the political scenario was very sensitive at the time. It affected the sentiment of businesses in how they looked back on 2019," the Chamber's CEO, Abigail Mamo said. 300 respondents participated in the sur- vey that was conducted between 9 to 24 January 2020 and accounts for a 6% mar- gin of error. Political crisis was bad news for business performance in 2019, survey finds People avoided Valletta as the political turmoil unfolded GOOD design can increase your prod- uct's reach in the marketplace and make it more attractive to customers. is is because the aesthetic power of design permeates many aspects of your lives and is applied to a wide variety of products: from packaging to books and magazines, electrical goods, electron- ics, jewellery, foodstuffs and textiles. A novel design is one of the key fac- tors that attract us to a product and in the end leads us to prefer one product to another. 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