Monday, April 30, 2012

Shedworking economy up 25% to £8bn


According to a poll run by Shedworking for supermarket giants Asda, although economic conditions may be challenging for traditional workers, the value to the UK economy of home and shed-based businesses will top £8 billion this year. That's up from just over £6 billion in the same poll in 2010.

The figure reflects the boom in the numbers of homeworkers: the poll of shed/home-based business owners found that the average turnover of home-based businesses has risen by 25% in the last two years. Reflecting this growth, sales of sheds and low-cost office technology and stationery for potential home use have boomed at Asda in the last 12 months, with shed sales up 386%, laptop sales up 86%, printer sales up 45% and stationery sales up 12%.

Asda has recently launched a home business starter kit, including a range of low cost products from stationery to IT equipment to help budding entrepreneurs start a business. A shed, office chair, desk, laptop, printer, ream of paper, pay as you go phone and 50-pack of ballpoint pens can be bought from Asda for less than £500. Nearly four in five (77.8%) of those polled said the lower cost of equipment to run a business were among their main reasons for choosing to start a business from home.

“Many households are taking a go-it-alone approach to business and are reaping the rewards,” said Alex Crowe, Asda’s homeworking specialist. “The low cost of starting up a business means that many households are pursuing the entrepreneurial dream. With the value of the back garden economy reaching an amazing £8 billion, home-based businesses are now lending a whole new meaning to the term ‘home economics’”.

Sixteen percent of those polled said that their turnover had been in the £100-150,000 range in the last twelve months and 7.9% said that their turnover had exceeded £200,000. The poll also revealed
 * Nearly a quarter of home-based businesses polled employ more that one person and one in twenty employs more than five.
 * Four in five (78.9%) expect to work from home indefinitely.
* Many of the home businesses polled were bullish about the prospects for growth this year, with 13.5% of those polled expecting turnover growth of 20% or more. Only five percent of respondents expected no growth or a decline in sales this year. More than a third (35.1%) expected growth of between five and ten percent this year.

Lower costs, easier childcare and a sense of it being a more modern way of working were among the main reasons cited for working from home.

The sub-£500 home start-up – premises and all the equipment you need to set up your business from Asda for less than £500: 6x4 shed - £129 Desk - £14 Laptop - £249 Printer - £30 Office chair - £19 Ream of paper - £2.38 Pay as you go phone - £12.50 Pack of 50 ballpoint pens - £4.50 Total - £460.38

Pictured above is author and shedworker Neil Gaiman's writing shed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

1 comment:

  1. Great blog, would be keen to see the cost savings of having a garden office vs a office in a commercial premises.

    ReplyDelete