Monthly Archives: May 2012

Hosepipe ban to dry up retail profits?

Recent hosepipe bans affecting household water use across most of Southern England are causing considerable – and justified – concern for the gardening industry. While many of the fears voiced by manufacturers, retailers and trade groups focus on the ban’s likely impact on commercial gardening activities, Euromonitor International analyses the implications for consumer retail sales and the companies they serve.

Read the full report on Passport GMID (Oxford members only). It is not possible to link directly to a Euromonitor report on Passport GMID, so you will need to search for the word “hosepipe” in order to access this report.

Getting better: Dispensing chemists revenue grows

There has been a marked increase in the number of NHS scripts dispensed over the past decade, a trend that is expected to continue over the next decade. In England, total dispensing volumes increased by 67% over the decade through 2009, with 886 million items dispensed in the community.

Moves towards healthier living and the prevention of disease, and community beliefs about the safety and effectiveness of taking pharmaceuticals and OTC products, affects the demand for industry products. In the next few years, it is anticipated that consumers will take an increasingly proactive approach to their general health and wellbeing.

Read the full post on IBIS (Oxford members only).

Changes to SIC codes on Fame

A message from Bureau van Dijk about company classification:

We’re changing how we manage SIC codes in Fame.

In October 2011 we added the UK SIC 2007 codes to Fame. These are the official codes used by Companies House and replace the 2003 classification.

Currently Fame includes both the 2003 and 2007 versions of the UK SIC codes.

In early June the 2003 classifications will be removed from Fame.

The 2007 classification offers more detail for companies in the IT services and related industries.

We’ve created a tool to help you convert the UK SIC 2003 codes to UK SIC 2007. You can find this in the Help menu on Fame under ‘Tools’.

The State of 3D Television

Many still see the revenue potential in 3D – content producers, broadcasters, hardware manufacturers and content distributors are all looking to cash in on 3D content. The only market participant without much enthusiasm for the technology is the consumer.

Read the full report on Passport GMID (Oxford members only). It is not possible to link directly to a Euromonitor report in Passport GMID, so you will need to search for “3D” to find this report.

Announcing two exciting new services

A note from Chris Flegg about new services on the Sainsbury Library News page:

Entrepreneurship: Rankings is a new monthly service capturing articles or lists from management journals which rank entrepreneurs, innovators, entrepreneurial companies and technologies, with links to the full-text. This is designed to provide you with a quick browseable index to what is out there.

Examples: from Technology Review “The 50 Most Admired Companies”; from Fast Company “The World’s Most Innovative Alumni”. The service includes a monthly archive, as well as a full 2011 capture of rankings.

New Market Reports is daily selection of new full-text reports from our market research databases.

Examples: from IBIS “Increased populatrity of alternative asset funds”; from Keynote “Growth in the UK hotel industry” and from EIU “The real environmental impact of the electric car”.

Caring less: high unemployment reduces demand for child day-care centres

The workforce participation rate of women with dependent children affects demand for childcare services. Since the 1960s – and more broadly, since the end of World War II – there has been a consistent increase in the number of women working and looking for work in the United Kingdom. Increasing female workforce participation tends to correlate very closely with two-income families, as historically most families have followed the traditional model of father as breadwinner. As this shift has occurred, there has been a growing realisation of the importance of providing childcare opportunities to parents in stimulating and sustaining economic growth.

Read the full report on IBIS (Oxford members only)

Not a cloud in the sky: future for cloud computing looking bright

This industry includes companies that host computing applications or data processing activities online. Computing and computer-based application data are stored in a cloud and accessed online. Data processing services provide specialised reports from information supplied by the clients. Services can range from automated data entry to the processing of that data.

Read the full report on IBIS (Oxford members only)