Business News From The Q4 Survey

The post Christmas blues have been a dark shade of indigo this year. As recession hits, businesses collapse and jobs are lost, it seems like our fast paced high maintenance lifestyles are going to be difficult to fund in the future. It isn't all doom and gloom however; there are in fact businesses that are seeing a boost in profits and an increase in revenue. The latest figures from the Q4 survey are a sneaky indicator of just how this recession is going to affect our lifestyle. It seems that rather than going without, the average consumer is more likely to refine their desires and spend their money wisely on the right products. We take a look at which businesses are coming out on top, and which appear to be on the slippery slope of consumer rejection.

One of the first things that gets kicked into touch as the purse strings tighten is frivolous spending on non-essential items. Nokia saw a fall in phone sales as customers were more than happy to stick with their current gadgetry, and online retail gods eBay also felt the pinch with a fall in revenue, sales and visitors to the auction site. This came as a surprise as many predicted that the site would do well as people hunted for a bargain, but I heard recently the definition of a bargain was 'something you don't need at a price you can't resist', maybe people can resist after all.

It comes as somewhat of a surprise then that Apple have reported their highest profits ever, and an increase in the value of shares. The lure of iPod, iPhone, MacBook and Apple TV is boosted by the belief that these items are a worthwhile investment. Rather than being a frivolous spend on unnecessary technology, those that are buying Apple products are choosing to invest in technology they believe is essential and worth 'upgrading' to. It should be noted that all these items could be classed as luxury home entertainment items, and maybe as money pressures rise, people feel the need to stay in more and go out less.

As hard times hit, it's understandable that folks want to go out less, and want find cheaper ways of finding amusement indoors. For example, taking the family to the cinema can cost in excess of 20 GPB before you've even cued for a bag of popcorn and some nachos. Instead, people are turning to film rental, on average, at a mere 3 GBP a pop, it is certainly a much cheaper way to amuse several people for a couple of hours. It is this trend towards home entertainment that has seen the rise in profits and customers of postal DVD company Love Film.

Each year has seen an increase in growth by forty per cent for the company, and this year the CEO announced that the client list has exceeded the 1 million mark. In return this has sparked an investment interest from one of the major UK banks with an injection of 10 million GBP into the company. The New Year for this company must be positive tint of pink, a much relieved change from the darker shades of blue affecting other companies around the world. Through the darkness of the upcoming recession, at least the bright lights of a screen will be leading the way.

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