October Consultation on Town Centre Plans

[_pauls]

Was anyone able to attend either of the sessions from last weekend? I was out of the country so I couldn't go but I would be interested to know what was presented or asked.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, _pauls said:

Was anyone able to attend either of the sessions from last weekend? I was out of the country so I couldn't go but I would be interested to know what was presented or asked.

Never seen any comments to say anyone who lives in the area attended. 

I wonder if @Malcolm Robinson has any www links he could post to online sites that hold any info

Did a search via Google and the only site I found that would appear to have info on the what might be happening is via the Northumberland Gazette   :-

  https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/business/public-urged-to-attend-drop-in-sessions-about-development-of-bedlington-town-centre-3885994

I see on that site you can sign up for a 'Daily Newsletter' :- 

                   

[_pauls]

3 minutes ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Never seen any comments to say anyone who lives in the area attended. 

I wonder if @Malcolm Robinson has any www links he could post to online sites that hold any info

 

Ah thanks Eggy - that was the article that I saw initially and I thought that I'd missed both the West and East Bedlington sessions - I will be able to make the one next Saturday so I will go along.

[Malcolm Robinson]

I did go along to see what it was like.

As a Panel member I would rather a member of the public replied so I can see what they got out of it.  

 

There was a good turnout when I was there with many of the current local topics covered.  

 

Northumberland Rail Line.

Cycling.

Northumberland business help.

Advance Northumberland. (Marketplace redevelopment) 

Borderlands Funding.    

 

There was also a questionnaire to fill in which included your suggestions. 

 

[rosco]

May as well just start building all the houses / flats and stop the time wasting because we aren't going to see any more shops

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, rosco said:

May as well just start building all the houses / flats and stop the time wasting because we aren't going to see any more shops

People live longer and stay in their homes longer.

Children grow up and have relationships and families of their own.

Parents don't want their children and families living with them ever.

Both parents need to work to buy property. Unlike the major part of the 20th century where a family member stayed at home to raise children and when the children started school the parent had time to walk up the high streets, talk to friends and neighbours, and use the local shops.

Now most supermarkets are not only selling our food they have expanded into - clothing - electrical goods - insurance - etc. etc. etc. undercutting small family run businesses and have forced the small retailer to close.

Especially for working parents buying a home add the convenience of the www and online shopping, where most goods are kept in large warehouses eg. Amazon, and again undercutting high street businesses no wonder most retailers are not prepared to open new high street, or even shopping centre premises. 

In any town is it the councils fault that the economic structure of the world is changing? 

The world, including Bedlington, needs more dwelling places.

ps - I no longer live in Bedlington, I have lived in Seghill for the past 14 years. Seghill (population approx 3,500) needs more houses but unless they take the surrounding farm fields to build more houses the younger generations have to move away to areas that are expanding their new properties.

pps. - my wife hates having to use the local food shop as she says everything on sale is priced higher than at the nearest supermarkets.  

 

 

[_pauls]

I don't think that Bedlington needs more dwelling places... the country probably does, the county may even need them but not so sure about Bedlington. If you keep building homes in places with no amenities then all you do is create logistical problems as people exit their homes en-masse to go to work, to school, to shop, for leisure etc. 

 

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

7 minutes ago, _pauls said:

I don't think that Bedlington needs more dwelling places... the country probably does, the county may even need them but not so sure about Bedlington. If you keep building homes in places with no amenities then all you do is create logistical problems as people exit their homes en-masse to go to work, to school, to shop, for leisure etc. 

 

 

Surely if the population of a town increase there must be more businesses groups think there is more chance of a new business surviving. As long as the main center of the town has adequate parking near to the where the bulk of the retail, or leisure, facilities would be.

If Bedlington housing estates were built up to Nedderton would the new house owners shop in Bedlington or travel to Morpeth to shop?

Not that I have been onto any town centers in the last four years (or more) but I am informed, by the misses, that the town centres of Ashington, Station Road, and Morpeth, Bridge Street and Newgate Street are just as bad as every other town - there are more charity shops than retail shops. 

But we have to admit that it must be extremely difficult for local councils to compete with the on-line shopping revolution. All our area's local town's folk are part of the Amazon revoloution :-

Bedlington population = 18,740

Morpeth population = 14,017

Ashington population = 27,764

Blyth population = 37,339

AMAZON Prime customers = 200,000,000 + 

Most Important Amazon Stats in 2022

1. 50% of the entire ecommerce retail GMV in the US goes to Amazon.

Regardless of the aspect you decide to examine, Amazon market share in 2021 was quite impressive. According to one estimate, about 50% of the entire ecommerce market belongs to Amazon, which is a fascinating figure. In terms of the number of items on the market or the number of independent merchants on this platform, Amazon is always ahead of its competition.

2. Amazon had over 1,468,000 employees worldwide in 2021.

(GeekWire, MarketWatch, Statista)

Another curve that keeps growing is Amazon employment statistics. In April 2020, Amazon employed 935,000 workers. Since July 2020, this number has officially exceeded 1,000,000. The number kept growing and expanding to reach the last known record of 1,468,000 employees at the end of 2021.

3. In 2021, Amazon had total revenue of $469.8 billion.

(Amazon)

The question that probably interests people the most is Amazon revenue. In 2021, Amazon brought in $469.8 billion in net sales. This is a staggering figure and an increase of 22% compared to 2020.

4. The number of third-party sellers on Amazon is over 2 million.

(Forbes)

An interesting fact about Amazon is that not all products are sold directly by this platform. Amazon allows third-party sellers to set up their own marketplace and sell directly to customers (and pay a fee to Amazon).

5. In 2021, 60 thousand Amazon sellers surpassed $1 million in sales.

(Marketplace Pulse, Statista)

Third-party sellers sell the majority of products on Amazon. Numbers show that in Q3 of 2021, 56% of all products sold on Amazon were sold by third-party sellers.

Crucial Amazon Stats by Country and Demographic

6. 150.6 million people in the US used the Amazon app in September 2019.

(Oberlo)

One of the most impressive Amazon statistics shows that this platform had 150.6 million app users in September 2019 in the USA alone. Sure, the USA is the single largest Amazon market, but that doesn’t change the fact of how monumental this figure is. Also, this is a huge triumph for both m-commerce and ecommerce.

7. Amazon’s annual net sales in the UK were $26.48 billion in 2020.

(Statista)

According to the latest Amazon statistics for the UK, the retailer’s annual net sales was $26.48 billion in 2020, which shows that the UK was and still is the second-largest Amazon market. The popularity of Amazon voice-activated speakers in the UK is quite impressive, and so is the Amazon Prime Video membership in this country. In other words, the UK is quite Amazon-oriented.

8. There are two millennial shoppers for every baby boomer using Amazon.

(RepricerExpress)

One of the most important things about Amazon’s demographics is that millennials dominate this marketplace. This is hardly surprising, given the fact that millennials are more tech-savvy than baby boomers and, on average, have much more money than Gen Z.

9. 67% of Amazon shoppers prefer to use a desktop or a laptop computer.

(Oberlo)

Speaking of demographics by device usage, it’s important to mention that about 67% of all Amazon shoppers prefer to use a desktop or laptop computer. In comparison to the rest of the world of ecommerce where mobile devices are quickly becoming a driving sales force, this figure is quite impressive.

10. 80% of Amazon shoppers are homeowners.

(Revuefy)

One more statistic that may reveal the purchasing power of an average Amazon shopper is the fact that 80% of them are homeowners. Furthermore, about 45.9% of them are married, 57.4% of them are blue-collar, and 34.5% of them have a bachelor’s degree. In other words, an average Amazon shopper is someone who would rightfully be considered a pillar of society by the majority of metrics.

11. For 82% of people, price is the leading factor when deciding whether to buy on Amazon.

(Oberlo)

When choosing a product, price is one of the main factors for 82% of Amazon buyers. While the item availability may play a part locally, the majority of buyers are willing to endure the long delivery time. If they find the product at a lower price, they will probably purchase it.

Amazon Prime Statistics in 2022

12. In 2021, there were more than 200 million Amazon Prime subscribers.

(Oberlo, Amazon)

Among the most relevant Amazon user statistics, there’s also the question of Amazon Prime subscribers’ number. This is important since they are the most loyal and most committed of all Amazon users. Currently, there are more than 200 million Amazon Prime subscribers worldwide. Out of the 200 million, 153 million are in the US.

13. 10 million Amazon Prime items are eligible for one-day delivery.

(DMR)

One of the interesting Amazon Prime facts worth mentioning is that there are about 10 million Amazon Prime items that are eligible for one-day delivery. Sure, the majority of ecommerce shoppers don’t expect expedient delivery, but in some industries, this can definitely be a deal-breaker.

14. Amazon Prime members spend around $1,400 every year.

(Statista)

One of the most relevant Amazon Prime vs Amazon statistics shows that Amazon Prime members spend substantially more than non-prime members. Latest surveys have found that Amazon Prime members spend around $1,400 every year, while non-prime users spend an average of only $600 every month.

15. According to the latest info, 10.1 million households in the UK had Amazon Prime Video.

(Statista)

Apart from being a specialised ecommerce marketplace, Amazon is a massive conglomerate. As of lately, they are diversifying their offers with platforms like Amazon Prime Video. As the latest available stats show, Prime Video has 10.1 million subscribers in the UK.

This places it just behind Netflix and Amazon, which is fairly impressive for a newcomer to the industry. This also contributes to the Amazon growth over the past five years, as the service gained nine million subscribers in the UK alone.

16. Amazon has numerous other subsidies.

(Revuefy)

Amazon Prime and regular Amazon are not the only two types of service Amazon has on offer. Other companies that everyone has heard of are Audible (a major audiobook platform), IMDB (the movie review website), and Twitch (a popular streaming platform). In other words, Amazon is a conglomerate that has been diversifying and expanding.

Amazon Prime Day Statistics 2021

17. In 2021 on Prime Day, spending through all ecommerce sites in the US reached $11.2 billion.

(Digital Commerce360, Statista)

This is a slight increase of 6.1% year-over-year, as the total spend in 2020 amounted to $10.4 billion. The two-day event dominated Amazon product sales statistics, but it also increased online sales for a range of competitors who offer discounts at the same time.

18. Amazon’s revenue on Prime Day 2021 was 29% higher than on an average day in June.

(Digital Commerce360)

Prime Day increased not only Amazon’s revenue but also the revenue of other, smaller ecommerce sites. Their revenue on Prime Day increased by 21% compared to other days in June.

19. The average Prime Day discount was 13% lower in 2021.

(Digital Commerce360)

As inflation and supply chain issues shake the world, Amazon’s sellers kept discounts at more modest levels in 2021. At the same time, the average order value rose by 7% and the number of orders decreased by 8%. In short, merchants kept prices somewhat higher to alleviate the general market’s negative effects.

20. Spending through affiliate channels grew 163% on Prime Day in 2021.

(Digital Commerce 360)

Amazon’s Prime Day has an effect on the entire ecommerce ecosystem. Stats from last year illustrate the value of having diversified channels. Social media sales saw an increase of 106%, orders generated by email campaigns rose 161%, paid search grew by 132%, while affiliate marketing proved its worth with a 163% rise.

Amazon Products Statistics

21. Electronics were the most popular product category in 2019, with 44% of USA shoppers purchasing them via Amazon.

(Oberlo)

According to Amazon product sales data, about 44% of USA Amazon shoppers bought electronics via Amazon in 2019. The reason behind this is that the cost of these products on Amazon tends to be considerably lower. Also, the delivery time is quite expedient, and Amazon enjoys a relatively high level of consumer trust.

22. In 2016, Amazon earned $4.3 billion more from hard copy books than from e-books.

(Markingblog)

When talking about the Amazon book sales statistics, the majority of people focus on e-books. However, Amazon earned $4.3 billion more from hard copy books than from e-books in 2016. This shows that the printed versions are still more popular than e-books.

23. In 2016, self-published books made up about 60% of all e-books offered on Amazon.

(Markingblog)

Platforms like Amazon Direct Kindle Publishing allow independent authors to self-publish their books on Amazon. This is an incredibly popular and lucrative trend nowadays. One of the most unexpected Amazon e-book sales statistics claims that 60% of e-books offered on Amazon are self-published.

24. Audible offers over 100,000 unique titles.

(Markingblog)

Another interesting Amazon seller statistics is the one regarding Audible. This is the single biggest audiobook database that offers 100,000 unique titles. The project keeps expanding, and the popularity of audible seems to be growing with each passing year.

25. There are five categories in which Amazon has more than 90% of market share.

(Revuefy)

Regarding Amazon ecommerce market share, there are five fields in which it has more than 90% of it. We’re talking about the home improvement tools market (93%), skin care market (91%), batteries (97%), golf (92%), and kitchen and dining market (94%). These are the fields where Amazon is expected to dominate for years to come.

26. There are 12 million items on Amazon across all categories and services.

(RepricerExpress)

One of the fascinating Amazon statistics on products shows that this online marketplace has an inventory of around 12 million items. However, this number is incomplete because it excludes all the markets and third-party sellers. If we take into consideration all of them, the figure would quickly exceed 350 million items.

Interesting Amazon Facts

27. Amazon.com had more than 2.7 billion visits just in January 2022.

(SimilarWeb)

So, how many customers does Amazon have worldwide? According to some of the more interesting Amazon facts, there were about 2.7 billion visits on Amazon.com just in January 2022. While not all visits are by unique users, the number is still fascinating.

Out of this number, 1.1% of visits came from the UK. At the same time, there were 418.7 million visits to Amazon’s UK site.

28. There are about 300 sales every second on Amazon during the Christmas season.

(Adext AI)

Beyond doubt, the most impressive Amazon product statistic is the one regarding their sales during the Christmas season—300 individual sales per second. Sure, this part of the year is significant for traditional retail as well, but numbers like these are entirely outlandish. Also, this doesn’t mean that Amazon is doing much worse during the rest of the year.

29. 89% of customers say that they trust Amazon more than other ecommerce sites.

(Oberlo)

One of the biggest challenges of the ecommerce world is related to trust. Here, Amazon is head and shoulders above its competition. As many as 89% of all buyers say that they trust this platform more than any other ecommerce site. Numerous factors influence their opinion, ranging from familiarity with the platform to the fact that Amazon has been in the industry for years.

30. Amazon shipping cost grew by $23.2 billion in 2020.

(Statista)

According to Amazon shipping statistics in 2020, Amazon’s shipping costs grew along with its rising sales. The shipping costs hit $61.1 billion for the entire year. In 2019, the figure was at $37.9 billion.

When it comes to the number of items, there are no statistics more recent than 2017 at the moment. According to that last report, more than 5 billion items were shipped via Amazon Prime in 2017. While there are no similar records for the last four years, the rising shipping costs indicate that the number has grown proportionally.

31. In 2012, Amazon bought Kiva Systems for $775 million.

(The New York Times)

Not all of Amazon’s workforce is human. In fact, this company commits to robotisation of their workforce so much that they’ve bought Kiva Systems (renowned robot makers) for an incredible $775 million. Amazon efficiency statistics show that these systems allowed Amazon to fairly quickly and efficiently robotise their warehouses. Although the price sounded incredible at the time, it has paid off relatively quickly.

32. Amazon once lost $5.7 million because the website was down for just 49 minutes.

(Revuefy)

To show how monumental this company actually is, we will mention that it once lost $5.7 million simply because the website was down for about 49 minutes. Of course, if such a thing were to happen nowadays, the losses would be even bigger.

Conclusion

In 2022, Amazon is one of the world’s leading conglomerates. For a while now, it’s been the biggest name in the ecommerce industry, but it has recently demonstrated that it can also be competitive in the entertainment industry. The Amazon market share seems to be growing every year, and Amazon sales statistics sound impressive with every new report. As for the inventory of Amazon, the company seems impressive in both software and hardware categories.

Most importantly, Amazon has marked continuous growth for years now, and the progress doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Even the year 2020 that was quite disastrous for most other industries didn’t seem to upset Amazon sales numbers. In other words, Amazon is the true titan of the industry, and it will certainly continue to be in the future.

[_pauls]

I don't disagree about shops. In general the only shops with a future in town centres are those where shopping or services in-person is essential or advantageous, hence why we have a plethora of hairdressers, tattoo shops and dog grooming parlours.

Thats why I'd much rather see a leisure offering than shops.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

4 minutes ago, _pauls said:

I don't disagree about shops. In general the only shops with a future in town centres are those where shopping or services in-person is essential or advantageous, hence why we have a plethora of hairdressers, tattoo shops and dog grooming parlours.

Thats why I'd much rather see a leisure offering than shops.

 

I would agree with that. 

[Canny lass]

16 hours ago, _pauls said:

If you keep building homes in places with no amenities then all you do is create logistical problems as people exit their homes en-masse to go to work, to school, to shop, for leisure etc. 

Every coin has two sides so the situation you predict should more houses be built could equally well apply to the building of a leisure facility ie. logistical problems as people exit their homes en-masse to go to that facility for leisure purposes. I am, of course, assuming it would be the people of Bedlington who would be using it so the same people who are causing logistical problems by leaving their homes en-masse for work, school and shopping would be the same people leaving their homes en-masse in the evenings and at weekends to go to a leisure facility (I can’t really visualise anybody travelling from Ashington, Cramlington, Morpeth or Newbiggin when they have such a facility nearer home). The latter I see only as adding to the supposed logistical problems for Bedlington.

 

I don’t believe the logistical problems related to going to work, school or to shop would change dramatically should more housing be built. Sometimes we just need to think outside the box. The recent Covid issue has shown that people now WANT to work from home and some companies have already closed their offices in favour of just that. Flexi-time has a long history and many professions, by their very nature, crave flexible working hours: health service, emergency services etc.. child care facilities, to name just a couple. There are also people who work far from home and travel only on a weekly, fortnightly or even monthly basis. Working 9 to 5 (thus clogging up the infrastructure) is a thing of the past – and not only for Dolly Parton.

 

As for schools, they can also have staggered start and finish times. I’m not au fait with college times in Bedlington but here college students (over 16s) have 4-5 lessons a day and the remainder of the day is for own study, homework, groupwork etc.. If their first planned lesson is at 10 am they don’t need to be in school till 10am. If their last lesson finishes at 2pm then they can leave at 2pm – provided, of course, that they don’t want/need to use school facilities, such as libraries, computer rooms or sports facilities when they are welcome to stay.

 

Going shopping doesn’t have to clog up the logistical works either. What happened to shopping on the way home from work and thereby saving petrol money and the environment? And, who’s to say that any of the above groups (workers, students, shoppers) would increase in size should there be new housing in Bedlington? Perhaps Bedlington is on its way to becoming a very pleasant dormitory town attractive to pensioners like myself or city workers looking for a ’no stress’ abode?

 

Who knows what Bedlington will be like in 10 years time? We can’t predict the future. Lord knows I, who likes to know exactly how much money I have in my purse when i go shopping, (it’s an OAP thing!) could never have foreseen that a piece of plastic would herald the asphixiation of coins and bank notes. It ruffles my feathers enormously when shops refuse to accept cash. However, I do have a choice. If I want food I can go with the flow and accept that times have changed and cash is no longer an option OR I can go to another shop some miles away because I know that they still accept cash.

 

It’s not unlike the problem facing Bedlingtonians regarding leisure centres. There are alternatives. If a leisure centre is important in one’s life , as food is important in mine, then it’s worth the effort of travelling locally or, in a worst case scenario, even moving house. I personally thought that I was spoiled for choice regarding leisure centres when living in Bedlington. Me and mine must have added enormously to the logistical problems of Bedlington, Cramlington, Blyth and Morpeth with our three visits a week.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Canny lass