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There are more than 310,000 retail businesses in the UK, which is 5.7% of all businesses, with SMEs accounting for more than 99% of them. Many UK retail businesses, especially those in the high street, have had a very tough time in recent years, having battled Covid and a record inflation-fuelled cost-of-living crisis that’s left consumers much more careful when it comes to spending their cash. So, is it still worth starting a small retail business and if so where do the best opportunities lie? Should you take on premises or stay strictly online? How do you set yourself apart and create a winning brand?
Answering these and many other key questions is Catherine Erdly, a small-business independent retail expert with more than 21 years’ experience, 17 of them spent working for high street names. She now works exclusively with start-ups, independent brands and retailers, helping them to grow their profits.
This episode is brought to you thanks to the support of Square. Whether you're a small business or a multi-location retailer, Square's retail POS system includes all the tools your retail business needs including payments, inventory management and ecommerce. Find out more about Square's retail POS systems at square.com.
Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Visit Start Up Donut and sign up to the Donut newsletter for more free start-up news, advice and special offers to help you save time and money.

Creating a great customer experience is crucial, especially for new and established businesses operating in retail and hospitality. If you don’t create a great experience, many customers will avoid your business or head for the exit not long after entering your premises. There are many ways to encourage a great customer experience, but the potential for using music to create the right mood cannot be overstated. Music really can boost your profitability, as expert Liam Wood of the New World Trading Company explains.
This episode is brought to you thanks to the support of PPL PRS. TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS provides a streamlined music licensing service, with a single point of contact, to make it easier to legally play and perform music in public. Visit themusiclicence.co.uk to find out more.
Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Visit Start Up Donut and sign up to the Donut newsletter for more free start-up news, advice and special offers to help you save time and money.

Dawn White battled eczema while growing up and when her own struggles showed just how sensitive human skin can be to normal detergents, she decided to do something about it. Dawn set out to create a detergent that was kinder to skin and contained no nasty chemicals. Soon she invented her own pioneering, eco-friendly detergent pellets, but they also needed a container so that they could be placed directly into washing machine drums, which is why her game-changing reusable Laundry Egg was also developed.
In this new Start-Up Story, Dawn explains how she developed her products, started her business and found a way to truly set it apart.
Visit Start Up Donut and sign up to the Donut newsletter for more free start-up news, advice and special offers to help you save time and money.

If you don’t have a well researched business plan, you may still be able to start and grow a successful business – but it may never achieve its full potential. To do that, you need goals and a successful strategy that enables you to achieve them. Essentially, that’s what a sound business plan offers you. So, what are the key components of a successful business plan, how do you use it to grow your business and what are the classic business plan mistakes you need to avoid?
Nicola McKenzie, co-founder of AI-enabled business plan platform Venture Planner, provides the answers to these and other key business plan questions.
Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Find more help and advice on starting a business at Start Up Donut.
This episode is brought to you thanks to the support of Venture Planner. Designed to assist start-ups and small businesses, Venture Planner utilises the power of AI-driven technology for tasks such as market research, financial projections, and document generation, aiming to streamline the business planning process. Get a free trial and 10% off when you sign up with code DONUT.

What does the future hold for small businesses in the UK in the next five to ten years? Which businesses are most likely to survive and succeed? How will customer wants and needs change and how might small businesses market their products and services to them? Will online sales continue to grow and is that likely to bring about the demise of the high street? What about managing, and, could AI actually be a good thing for small-business owners? Applied futurist, speaker, writer and consultant Tom Cheesewright, explains how the small-business world is likely to change in the next five to ten years.
Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Find more help and advice on starting a business at Start Up Donut.
This episode is brought to you thanks to the support of Mediahawk. Mediahawk is a leading call-tracking and marketing analytics solution. Their software helps businesses big and small to quickly and easily pinpoint their most profitable marketing activities, cut wasted spend and drive more leads and sales. Founded in 2002, Mediahawk pioneered call-tracking technology, and have remained at the forefront of the industry ever since.

Many new small independent retailers buy their stock wholesale, often from small suppliers, makers and craft businesses. It can really set you apart by providing you with high quality, exclusive stock that’s superior to the mass-produced options sold by others. But where do you find such suppliers and how do you negotiate good deals? Consultant and wholesale and retail expert Therese Oertenblad answers these key questions, while also providing tips for micro makers that want to sell their wares to small retail businesses.   
Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Find more help and advice on starting a business at Start Up Donut.
This episode is brought to you thanks to the support of Faire. Faire is a global marketplace for local retailers to discover the best emerging and established brands to stock their stores risk-free. Faire enables independent retailers to grow their business with the advantages of big players and empowers makers to seamlessly build and run their wholesale business. Faire was founded in 2017 and is powered by the idea that the future is local.