Saturday, March 12, 2005

New Report by Xmo Strata Says UK Retail Marketing Teams Poised for Sign Budget Cuts...but Finance Departments Seem More Bullish!

New Report by Xmo Strata Says UK Retail Marketing Teams Poised for Sign Budget Cuts...but Finance Departments Seem More Bullish!

Sign installation and maintenance company Xmo Strata has commissioned research to test the UK market on the eve of recession – and the results make for surprising reading.

MARDEN, England (PRWEB) November 21, 2008

Researchers quizzed 50 senior finance managers (finance directors, purchasing managers etc) and 50 marketing professionals, all working in retail companies across the UK.

In some areas, marketing professionals are less bullish about likely expenditure than the normally conservative money men and women. For example, only 18% of the financial managers thought their companies would spend less on signage in a recession – 32% of marketing people expected budgets to be cut. 18% of the financiers also expected to spend more on signage – compared to only 8% amongst their marketing colleagues.

Only 10% of the financial managers thought their companies would spend less on sign maintenance, but that figure rose to 36% when put to the marketing teams. None of the marketeers expected to spend more on sign maintenance, but 12% of financiers were braced for higher maintenance bills.

Managing Director Steve Martin commissioned the research from The Survey Shop and says some of the results have come as a surprise.

"I supposed we had expected the financial managers to be more reluctant to spend money and more determined to dig their heels in and slash budgets," he said. "But surprisingly it is the marketing teams – who you might have thought would die in a ditch to defend their budgets – that seem resigned to cutting their cloth.

"It may be that the marketing teams are pessimistic and believe that they will have greater restrictions placed on them than the finance managers are currently considering. Whatever the reason, it is clear that there will be pressures on suppliers to provide value for money."

The full results of the survey can be viewed at www. xmostrata. com.

ends

Notes to editor:

Xmo Strata is one of the leading sign installation and maintenance firms in the UK, built on an aspiration to provide the most highly qualified sign engineers in the UK, adhering uncompromisingly to health and safety regulations and best practice. The company focus is to provide a truly nationwide specialist service, ensure a safe working environment for all, and to offer a trusted, market leading service whilst delivering value to customers at all times.

Xmo Strata specialises in large national roll-outs and offers complete project management. The company has crews based throughout the UK and offers a specialist service including re-branding and maintenance of signage on petrol forecourts, retail parks, high street stores and shopping malls nationwide.

For press enquiries contact Alexa Gibb on ag@garnett-keeler. com or telephone 020 8647 4467, alternatively, to find out more about Xmo Strata visit www. xmostrata. com or contact Steve Martin on telephone: 0845 2300 460.