Leeds city report: Power in community

On 4 November 2015, Maddie Julian got a terrible shock. Her young son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She and her partner spent the following week learning how to manage this complex condition. The training was excellent, but it left them feeling isolated; they were now the only ones in their network of family and friends qualified to look after their son. To address this issue and help other families, they created DigiBete, an education platform about Type 1 Diabetes.

DigiBete is a great example of a Leeds success-story. To get started, Maddie partnered with the Diabetes Team at Leeds Children’s Hospital and Academic Health Science Network (AHSN). This gave her access to the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’s digital health innovation support initiative. She received business support from Leeds Council and local accelerator programmes and made use of community networks such as Bruntwood SciTech and events like the Leeds Digital Festival. She then worked with a local video production company to produce resources for the platform.

The success of DigiBete highlights the unique strengths of Leeds as a business hub and start-up incubator. To learn more about the key opportunities and challenges faced by businesses in Yorkshire’s biggest city, we created theLeeds city report: Power in the community. We surveyed over 100 Leeds businesses and spoke with 12 leaders and experts and uncovered four key challenges:

The rise of ecommerce provides brands with a direct channel to their consumers. This is particularly relevant for Yorkshire, given its manufacturing heritage. 98% of Leeds businesses have invested significantly in ecommerce in the last 12 months, including many manufacturers.

AYKO is a full-service digital agency headquartered in the Headrow in Leeds City Centre. It’s one of the largest Magento solution partners in Europe, and has helped build ecommerce sites for hundreds of businesses. Here are AYKO’s four tips for businesses wanting to sell direct-to-consumer (D2C).

Before 2020, Leeds’ hospitality industry was booming. What follows is only too familiar. Lockdowns brought the industry to a standstill. According to our recent research report, 81% of respondents in Yorkshire said they’d avoided dining out or visiting bars and cafes during the pandemic.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve encountered some impressive ingenuity from hospitality businesses as they adapted to survive. In fact, measures born from necessity will likely improve the customer experience way beyond the pandemic.

Like everyone else, North Brewing Co. has been on a rollercoaster ride during the past year. With its primary source of income closed, the team had to come up with ways to maintain revenue and cash flow.

It decided to digitise its customer journey while retaining complete control of the experience. It brought its webshop in-house, and it turned its brewery into a makeshift distribution centre, bringing furloughed bar staff back to work as delivery drivers. In preparation for opening again, the team rolled out an app-based table ordering platform to facilitate contact-free ordering. It also implemented click and collect.

Even as hospitality businesses open again, no one knows for how long social distancing measures will remain in place. This is where technology like QTap comes in.

QTap is a Yorkshire-based company that's produce an app for pubs, bars, restaurants, and hotels to let customers order and pay in-app from their table. It can also be used to incentivise visits with special offers and manage footfall digitally.

McKinsey’s ‘The Quickening’ report said it best: “If you’re feeling whiplash, it might be the ten years forward we just jumped in 90 days’ time.” Ecommerce’s share of sales went up by over 130% in a matter of weeks and many businesses struggled to keep up.

The biggest barrier to innovation that Leeds businesses identified was outdated technology systems. Which is why, over the past 12 months, many of them have implemented new technologies, capabilities, and procedures to stay on top of consumer needs. This includes digital loyalty programmes, app-based ordering platforms, contactless payments, and click and collect.

Leeds-based businesses cited a variety of barriers to updating their technology systems. For many, it was the risk of potential disruption, followed by the lack of internal expertise, the need for speed, and cost. The right technology partners will help ease the transition for you. They’ll simplify the process of integration and ensure your customers get the best experience while minimising the disruption.

When it comes to doing business in Leeds, the community really benefits from the Northern Powerhouse spirit. Every Leeds business we spoke to talked about the fantastic support you can find in the city. There’s a real spirit of pulling together. Here are some examples of business support communities in Leeds:

As part of the report, we’ve pulled together a directory of local experts that would love to support businesses in Leeds. You can find the full list, complete with contact details, in the full report.