We went to our local bonfire night on Saturday.

It was a fine evening – not too cold, but cold enough that we wanted some warm nibbles afterwards.

The fireworks were in a field in Wallingford, a mere 100m from a nice, spacious Waitrose.

So, once the final bang had passed, we headed there, along with what seemed like half the attendees.

There we were, wandering the aisles, choosing our unhealthy but delicious nibbles when an announcement came over the tannoy:

“This store will be closing in 5 minutes, please make your way to the tills”

I was annoyed, and not just because I don’t like to be hurried when I am being unhealthy.

Supermarkets and retail are – according to the media – really struggling to attract customers and bring in revenue, and there are a whole host of reasons for that.

But when you have the perfect situation on Saturday night to open for half an hour longer, and triple your takings for the day, why on earth would you not take it?!

The post-firework buyers were not interested in the Waitrose essentials ranges. They weren’t looking for bargains, they were looking for calories, the tastier the better.

Plus, the chances are that a lot of them would “over-buy” – that’s what happens when you go shopping when you’re cold and hungry.

But not only did Waitrose turn down that revenue, they even put staff on the doors to stop people coming in at 7:55!

Does your business work to your hours or your customers’ hours?

Are you missing out on easy money because you aren’t available when people want to buy?

And by that I don’t mean “around” in the sense that people can visit your website, if they need to speak to you to buy, are you there?

P.S. The internet should mean you are always “open” but last year I saw an interesting website, ecommerce site, which had put on it “We are closed from 24 December to 5 January. We are not accepting any orders during this time”, which tends to negate the point of having an ecommerce website!