Adyen’s City reports
Leeds: Power in community
Discover the top business trends in the city where everyone pulls together
Featured artist from Leeds
Lucy Gordon @lcygdn
For the first stop in our City Report series, we've come to Leeds to explore the key opportunities and challenges faced by companies in Yorkshire’s biggest city. This report is the culmination of a survey of over 100 Leeds businesses and direct conversations with 12 leaders and experts in the Leeds economy. Here’s a quick summary of the themes we uncovered:
Selling direct-to-consumer
have invested significantly in ecommerce the last 12 months
of manufacturing businesses in Leeds saw lack of internal expertise as a barrier to updating technology.
The rise of ecommerce provides brands with a direct channel to their consumers. This is particularly relevant for Yorkshire, given its manufacturing heritage. But many local manufacturers feel they lack the internal expertise. So here’s a summary of some expert advice:
Advice from AYKO - Leeds-based digital agency
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Set clear objectives
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Assign a project champion
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Start small
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Get to know your new audience
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Call in the experts
Better resilience for hospitality
of hospitality businesses invested in alternative distribution methods
North Brewing Co. on weathering the pandemic
- Created its own ecommerce site
- Launched click and collect and local delivery
- Implemented contactless ordering
QTap: Contactless ordering software
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Lets customers order in-app and pay-at-table
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Provides an additional marketing channel
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Helps to manage footfall
“Before lockdown, our online sales were less than 1% from our own webshop. Now, it’s grown to about 30% overall.”
Sarah Hardy – Marketing Manager, North Brewing Co.
“We saw the opportunity to help venues get back up and running as quickly and safely as possible, so we jumped to it.”
Craig Pollock - Co-Founder, QTap
Staying agile
Measures chosen to increase agility over the last 12 months
believe that outdated technology systems have hindered their ability to keep up with the pace of change.
app-based ordering platform
integration with third-party platforms
contactless payments
omnichannel journeys
digital loyalty programmes
the biggest challenges of updating technology and keeping up with change
the risk of potential disruption
the need for speed
lack of internal expertise
cost
“Get online as quickly as possible and just choose good partners. You’re never going to get things perfect the first time. You will make mistakes, but don’t let that get you down. A good partner will help you make less of those mistakes.”
Lewis Sellers – Managing Director, Pinpoint
Power in community
Every Leeds business talked about the fantastic support communities you can find in the city. There’s a genuine spirit of pulling together. Here are some examples of business support communities in Leeds:
Directory of experts
Our interviewees all said they’d be more than happy to support other Leeds businesses. So don’t be afraid to send someone a message on Twitter or connect with them on LinkedIn. You’ll find a list of collaborators waiting to hear from you in the full report.
