BOSS Outlook - the latest state of trade report is available to download now
The state of the trade continues to be reported as positive, but less so than in the previous two quarters. Confidence has been resolutely positive since the start of 2013, however the actual performance reported for Q3 saw only 40% claiming that the state of trade had improved and 2% reporting that it had worsened.
The 'top three business concerns' expressed by respondents remain unchanged: the most cited was 'Survival of Major Customers' (56%, compared to 41% in Q2), followed by 'Competitor Pricing' (48%, compared to 53% in Q2) and, in third place once again, 'Access To Skilled Staff (30% in both Q2 and Q3).
BOSS Outlook is the BOSS Federation's quarterly office supplies & services industry trends survey. As well as reporting on the industry's latest quarterly survey of trends, with forecasts and data analysis on sales, output, business confidence, capacity, employment, prices, costs, stock, margins, profits, productivity, investment, financing and credit conditions, pay reviews, public sector and EOS - BOSS Outlook also incorporates:
- UK headline economic data
- CBI forecasts and assessment
- Paper sector commentary and a price index from PPL Research Ltd
- Advertising sector data and analysis from the Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report and the IPA Bellwether Report
BOSS Outlook is free to BOSS members and available from the BOSS website: www.bossfederation.com/outlook
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