New entry for 2010
What's the best way to deal with a recession, stick to what you know or spread out into new markets?
Many of the entries in this top 10 are about survival and staying in business in a crippling market that at one point was claiming new victims every day.
Some of those who survived did so by battening down and cashing in years of goodwill and prudent management.
But for those not in that position, a strategy for short-term survival and long-term growth in a new business environment was needed.
So what's the best option - focus on core products, expertise and simply do what you've always done, only do it better and more efficiently?
Or do you diversify and extend your offering into new markets - at its most obvious, if you're a kitchen dealer, do you seriously think about offering bathrooms too and vice versa?
But if that's too much, how about branching out into flooring, lighting, audio-visual or soft furnishings? Maybe, just maybe, retailers might even start looking at fitted bedrooms with a new perspective.
Changing the way you do business to cope with the new market has become so important we've put it straight in at number two in our countdown and deciding whether to diversify or not has become one of the most crucial decisions.
Some, like Master Retailer winner Diane Berry in Manchester, believe that the best approach is to stick to what you know best - in her case, kitchens.
"You can always tell a kitchen shop is quiet when they suddenly start thinking they can sell lounge furniture, bedrooms, or the occasional en suite," she told us. "Just concentrate on what you're good at. If you're not selling enough kitchens, it's because there's something wrong with what you're doing."Don't think the grass is greener on the other side, it isn't."
Bernard Griffith from Bulthaup -Wilmslow couldn't agree more: "If your kitchen business is sliding into obscurity, trying to bring it back by diversifying into another product - such as bathrooms - can only serve to increase the probability of speeding up your business's eventual demise," he insists.
But for everyone who thinks sticking to what they know best is the right choice, there'll be someone who thinks spreading their options is the only tactic.
Eddie Goodchild from Abbeywood Interiors in Bury St Edmonds is a good example: "However easy it may be to concentrate on one product line, with my 30 years in the industry I have seen times where businesses have remained in business only by diversification."
And Stewart Woodruff from MBK in Maidstone said: "Diversification does not mean we cannot offer a comprehensive service."
It's not all about moving your product offer outside the norm, diversification can also mean widening your current mix by going for more budget or top-end customers. If you've always gone for the middle to upper market, is now the time to introduce a more mainstream option to cater for the new age of austerity?
With so many retailers even considering diversification, there is a real opportunity for manufacturers and suppliers to get a foothold in showrooms previously loyal to one or two brands or product groups.
These suppliers are also asking themselves the same questions about diversification and whether to expand product lines, change tack on target markets or stick to their core base.
But whether it's retailers or suppliers, the recession has split the market wide open to new ideas and new ways of doing business. Maybe in the long run that will turn out to the best thing for all involved.
