With the depressing news that a total of 366 stores closed across Scotland in 2016, last week was not a positive one for our businesses.
Nevertheless, the great thing about our country is that we’re always willing to adapt, learn, accept diverse schools of thought, and put accepted notions aside in the name of positive progress – it’s what has helped to keep our most innovative minds at the top of the global tree.
Scotland has also continually welcomed big international business, particularly when the benefits have rubbed off in so many great ways.
Now, Amazon has certainly had its critics – particularly in terms of tax avoidance controversies – but there’s no doubting the internet giant’s methods in terms of delivering a premium, hugely efficient service, not to mention the breath-taking velocity of its expansion since 1994.
I was pleased therefore to see that this world-leading know-how will be available to many after Amazon offered SMEs the chance to learn from the best. The first ever ‘Amazon Academy’ is coming to Scotland and registration is now open, as it continues its UK tour following successful visits to London and Manchester.
Amazon has teamed up with Enterprise Nation to bring the free event to our capital on 23 May to provide practical advice for smaller businesses and inspiring entrepreneurs who want to set up and achieve online business growth.
All start-ups, web developers and SMEs are invited to the one-day event if they are eager to learn how to boost their revenue and online presence – and with Amazon’s prolific record of success, this is one event that business owners should not miss out on.
The decrease of the high street only highlights how important online businesses are, so the keynote presentations and workshops on offer from experts and entrepreneurs could be an answer for many.
The event promises SMEs that they will learn the power of the internet and how to use technology to their advantage and includes workshops which will focus on exporting sales through Amazon Marketplace and their cloud computing programme, Amazon Web Services.
There is even a presentation on how to reach customers through Amazon’s exciting new cloud-based voice service, Alexa, for businesses who are interested in learning the most up-to-date ways to connect with potential consumers.
Despite this being the first event to come to Scotland, Amazon currently offers local businesses a whole suite of services encouraging them to reach new global customers. Businesses of all sizes can sell their products on a global level across Amazon’s eleven websites, with Scottish businesses contributing to the £1.8billion total of UK exports through Amazon Marketplace.
The event is being run in conjunction with Enterprise Nation, which, in its own words, is “on a mission to create a more entrepreneurial society.” The small business network is continuing its mission to support over 70,000 growing UK businesses, and teaming up with a giant like Amazon makes huge sense with that aim in mind.
The Amazon Academy UK tour was launched following the release of the Q1 SME Growth Tracker, a quarterly report by Capital Economics that was commissioned by both Amazon and Enterprise Nation. The report’s aim is to track the confidence of businesses across the UK, and it discovered that the fortunes of Scottish SMEs are expected to improve in the next 12 months – positive news for all small and medium-sized businesses in the country.
The Academy will take place all day at The EICC in Edinburgh, with presentations and practical workshops giving business owners a taste of the Amazon services on offer to help them succeed in the global digital sector.
Earlier this month, I spoke about our astonishing digital technology industry and the massive £5billion it generates for Scotland every year. This event only provides further evidence that the future is most certainly digital – and looking rosy indeed.
Record Store Day is fast approaching and it’s a chance for many independent Scottish businesses to get into the groove with a very welcome sales boost.
This year’s event is taking place on Saturday coming, and its popularity has been a remarkable success story, mirroring the resurgence of vinyl itself.
Such an idea would have been unthinkable only 10 years ago. Internet sales were booming through the likes of Amazon, while digital downloads were seriously taking hold as everyone rushed to fill their iPods amid demand for entire music collections to be as mobile as possible. The humble, clunky 12-inch appeared never more redundant.
Then something surprising happened. With the masses favouring ever-more disposable forms of music, suddenly another type of listener emerged – one that wanted to enjoy a far more tactile experience, and to really savour the romance, the look, the physicality, the sense of ownership, the identity, and therefore, the very essence of being a music fan.
Sure, you can listen to the history of music through your tinny little headphones on a cramped morning train in hollow, compressed, frankly hideous mp3 while that guy shouts into his phone about blah, oblivious to everyone else’s death stares – but are you really enjoying it? That’s not how music should be heard. It should be considered, pored over.
Record Store Day in Scotland is the very essence of that, predicated on rare vinyl becoming available for a limited time, but more importantly, it’s about the experience of going into an independent music retailer and lovingly searching through the racks to find something you’d never even imagined, never mind listened to.
My advice? Get in there quick on Saturday and grab your next favourite record while you still can.
Laugh
It was really quite depressing to see Scots Labour chiefs literally signing away a bit more of their dignity last week.
The skint party is selling tea towels autographed by leader Jeremy Corbyn for £100 a throw, promoting them as ‘exclusive’ in a bid to fund local election campaigns. They must be having a laugh.
Such a venture is embarrassing by anyone’s standards, but when you take into account that most Scottish Labour members voted for Owen Smith in last year’s leadership elections, then it becomes downright stupid.
The items feature party founder Keir Hardie’s image and quotes of his socialist ideals – which presumably didn’t include the flogging of signed kitchen accessories.
The party should very promptly throw in the towel on this ridiculous idea before it causes even more embarrassment.
Weep
I was amazed to read that the Isle of Arran – one of Scotland’s foremost tourist destinations – was recently forced to shut down all nine of its public toilets.
Cash-strapped North Ayrshire Council demanded the cost-cutting move, but what of the consequences for the island economy?
Suddenly, you have thousands of visitors, desperate for a wee and angry that they can’t use public conveniences.
Sure enough, restaurants, bars and hotels are already reporting a huge influx of apologetic, embarrassed tourists, politely asking to use their bathroom.
The move is short-sighted and predictably will only hurt the local authority in the long-run, with visitors likely to take their cash elsewhere if they can’t rely on basic services.
It’s just basic common sense – if people can’t even spend a penny, then they won’t spend anything else.
