It's sad today to report a long-established dealership going through a liquidation process.

David J Attfield has served its customers from its Woodham, Surrey base for over 30 years. To see all their remaining stock up for auction must be heartbreaking for all involved with the business.

As we're seeing across all sectors of society at the moment, the Covid situation is placing businesses of all sizes under the microscope - see the latest Briggs & Stratton news today for example. There were clearly many who were struggling before all this, who will now sadly, succumb to the financial affects of the pandemic.

So should we be fearful for more casualties in our sector? I guess that's always a possibility and now certainly isn't the time for complacency. However, from what we've been hearing lately, our sector does appear to have been pretty resilient thus far. 

Backing this up we do actually feature some delightfully positive stories today as well. Kramp investing hugely in new premises, GGM taking on new recruits and apprentices, a new industry podcast is launching and Infinicut building a dealer network are all great signs for our industry.

There was an article on the BBC this week which stated that credit card spending had fallen by 50% at the start of lockdown. The story reported that the trend had been for consumers to shun big purchases and be more prudent with their spending. Apparently £8.7bn was spent on credit cards in the first full month of lockdown in April, which is half the level of April last year.

One of the main reasons why this spend dropped so much must quite simply be that the public had fewer places to spend - with non-essential retailers closed. Also the uncertainly about job security and the ongoing crisis would have meant many would be thinking twice before making that purchase.

But we've been told by dealers and manufacturers alike about the surge in demand experienced these past couple of months. If there's one thing we keep hear being repeated, it's just how busy everybody is right now.

Talking with our magazine's current diarist, Pete McArthur of Strathbogie Forest & Garden this week, he told me that he believes through conversations he's also had with dealers and manufacturers, that most have fared pretty well through this lockdown. Pete cited machinery sales and online ordering as appearing to have held up surprising well. Pete said, "It looks like our industry must be bucking the trend with purchases."

This does tie up with some research I've been undertaking for a major feature in the next issue of Service Dealer magazine. I've been canvassing the thoughts of a cross section of manufacturers and suppliers about how they are seeing prospects for their businesses and that of their dealer network over the next 12 months.

As I said last week, a cautious optimism definitely appears to be the prevailing mood. Some senior representatives I have conversed with have told me in fact, that against expectations, they have grown their business during lockdown.

And what are these manufacturers citing as the reason for this growth in business? Of course, the very unusual set of circumstances of people at home with some furlough money in their accounts has lot to do with it. 

However, these extra sales don't just make themselves. Beyond the unique circumstances of 2020's spring period, the agility and entrepreneurial spirit of the dealer network has clearly come into its own.

The survey we ran last week, asked our dealers about changes they've made to their business to help themselves moving forward. We had some interesting answers which you can read in the next issue, but one stood out for me, exemplifying this ability of the network to react and adapt quickly.

"We have expanded our LOCAL e-commerce offering," one dealer told us. "People will be isolating again this autumn / winter. and we need to make it as easy as possible for them to buy from us and have products and services delivered to their homes by our experienced team."

This can-do attitude sums up the network for me. Looking for solutions which both help their customer base and pushes their own business on into ever expanding and improved territory. 

Long may it continue.