It's been a while...

This is our first Snapshot message for a while and I set myself the task of writing a quick summary of the last six months without using the much overused words of 2020. Words like ‘challenging’ and ‘unprecedented’ that we all hear 10 times before 9am - but it’s very hard not to. Like probably all other businesses we have made some tough decisions at The Completely Group this year. The team is a bit smaller than it was 12 months ago, and our offices are a bit smaller too, but we’ve regrouped, compared pictures of our lockdown vegetables, and we’re ready to take on the unprecedented challenges ahead and rebuild. Here’s a bit of an update on what we’ve been up to, and it’s not all doom and gloom, promise.

OK, just a bit more gloom now no major UK events are allowed to take place for probably another six months! The £70bn UK events industry has been hit harder than most with almost all venues, event organisers and the whole events supply chain having almost no prospect of any revenue whatsoever for 12 months now. This Autumn was meant to be a particularly exciting time for the Completely Events team. Not only should it have been the 17th London Completely Retail Marketplace and 4th Proptoberfest for LandAid in London, but we were due to hold our groundbreaking new event, Completely Sustainable, which is now being rescheduled to Autumn 2021. 

But we’re keeping positive and everything crossed, and we’re planning for a return to normality by Spring next year despite this nasty bug that’s going around. We know the industry can’t wait to get back together in person but we clearly won’t hold any event until it’s safe for everyone involved. You can look forward to a Completely Retail Marketplace in London, Stockholm and Madrid this side of Summer 2021. We’re watching what’s happening with COVID secure events in other countries where conferences and exhibitions are allowed and we’re looking at innovations like five minute onsite tests and digital COVID-free passports which are becoming a real possibility. Watch this space.

Until we can bring the industry together again in person we want to do everything we can to keep people connected. If you’ve been to a Completely Retail Marketplace in any one of the six European countries we’ve visited then you will be aware of our Connect system. We’ve reopened the system so previously registered delegates can search contacts by name, brand or company and stay in touch. If you’ve lost the details or haven’t been to an event before no problem, please contact the events team and they’ll try to point you in the right direction, or even make a personal introduction*.

And property information? We’ve got most of that too. It’s clearly a reflection of the tough retail market that our online portal CompletelyRetail.co.uk (CR) has more ’shops to let' than its ever had in its 12 year history, and more than you’ll find anywhere else. But it is encouraging to see that visitor numbers are back to pre-COVID levels with 130,000 people using CR every month to find details of shops, shopping centres and retail parks. If you’ve not used CR for a while take a look. Our team have been working flat out on new features and improvements. Some genuinely exciting initiatives (well they are to us) to help engage with an even wider audience will be coming out of the pipeline over the next few months. Another space to watch. Please get in touch with the digital team for more info on CR.

We started our journey into helping to market property 20 years ago with a plan of Crossley Retail Park in Kidderminster. Google it. Well we’ve upped our game quite a bit since then. Our Completely Creative team have continued to collaborate really well remotely throughout lockdown and have worked with new and existing clients on some exciting projects. Please get in touch with the creative team if we can help your business too.

Well I think that brings you up to speed on 2020 for The Completely Group so far and I make no apologies for a few shameless plugs for some of my excellent colleagues. I hope you find the rest of this Snapshot a right riveting read. The team have really enjoyed putting it together. It’s a welcome break from comparing vegetables.

Dom Millar, CEO, The Completely Group

* as long as it's GDPR compliant of course.