Start Up Loans sees 22% increase in retailer loan demand despite industry challenges
Data from Start Up Loans shows that year-on-year demand for its financing to start a retail business has held up, remaining at 6% of the total volume of loans in 2023 and 2024. Furthermore, demand for Start Up Loans to finance retail businesses rose by a staggering 22% in December 2024.
While Office for National Statistics figures show retail sales fell in December, data from Start Up Loans shows demand for its finance and support rose. In December 2023, 32 loans were provided to retail business owners. In December 2024 this rose to 39, an increase of 22%.
Start Up Loans data shows many business owners seeking start up financing and support favour starting a business in the retail sector. The sector overall is the most popular among applicants for a Start Up Loan, followed by hospitality and construction.
Start Up Loans also recently revealed that the period between Christmas and New Year was a time many aspiring entrepreneurs used to find out more about setting up a business. Using website traffic analysis, Start Up Loans found that during the period of 26th December – 1st January there were nearly 11,000 (10,938) users who visited the Start Up Loans website and there were 1,800 downloads of business guides from the website, with the business planning templates being the most popular.
Richard Bearman, co-chief banking Officer, British Business Bank commented: “It is fantastic to know from the data that Start Up Loans is providing opportunities for aspiring retail entrepreneurs up and down the country. If we want to revive our high streets and create globally successful e-commerce companies then it is vital entrepreneurs have access to finance and mentoring support.
“It is reassuring in many ways to see that despite some negative data around the sector there are entrepreneurial people out there willing to set up a retail business. This is important for economic growth and for creating jobs.”
Among the most well-known retail brands supported by Start Up Loans is sportswear brand, Castore. Another growing Start Up Loans-supported business is Robin Valley.
Case study – opening of first physical retail store
Liverpool-based Robin Valley previously operated as a wooden jewellery wholesaler and has now opened its first physical store in the Arndale Centre, Manchester. The business supplies over 100 well known retailers, including the English Heritage, National Trust, WWF-UK, Sealife Centres, and Science Museum Group and has 20 employees.
The opening marks a significant milestone in the business’s rapid growth since it secured a £15,000 Start Up Loan from the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme in 2023.