u/AttitudeTasty3880

I've been helping a friend who runs a few convenience shops around Edinburgh. The tills record every sale, but most big decisions still come from gut feel: what to stock more of, when to run offers, which shop needs attention, whether it's worth opening another.

I've started a small side project to turn the data he already has into a simple weekly view of what's growing, what's slipping, and where the opportunities are.

For anyone running a shop, café or small business here: what do you base decisions like these on, and what numbers would you actually want in front of you each week?

Happy to share what I learn.

Hey Folks, would like to connect with people related to Interior Design & Fitout Contracting to grow our network and support you for Carpet Supply & Install. Curtains as well

run paid ads for small businesses, based in Dubai but the lesson here isn't really location-specific.

I'm currently about a month into a Google Ads campaign for a client in the renovation/furniture space. Budget in the low thousands per month. The plan was to add Meta in after 3 months once we had solid data on what actually converts.

Yesterday my client mentioned he'd hired a sales guy who used to work at a company in another city. According to him, that company was getting solid, consistent business spending a fraction of what my client spends with me, purely on Instagram. I looked them up afterward. Confirmed: no website, no Google presence, just an Instagram page, and apparently doing fine.

My first reaction was defensive, not going to pretend otherwise. Then I actually sat with it, and a few things stood out:

• This was one sales guy's account of results, not someone who was actually running the marketing or looking at the real numbers behind it
• Different city, different competition, different customer behavior, so the comparison wasn't as clean as it sounded
• One month of data isn't enough runway to fairly judge a channel that usually needs more time to optimize
• But I also couldn't fully dismiss it. Maybe that category genuinely converts well straight off Instagram with a low-friction approach

Here's the part I keep coming back to though, and it's less about ad spend and more about the website itself. Instagram gets you found when someone's already looking for you or stumbles on your content. It doesn't get you found when someone actively searches for what you do. And increasingly, it doesn't get you found when someone asks ChatGPT or Gemini for a recommendation either, since those answers pull from indexed websites, not social bios. No website means opting out of two growing sources of demand, not just one.

So maybe that competitor is doing fine right now. But "doing fine" and "not leaving anything on the table" aren't always the same thing, they just haven't hit the ceiling yet.

Founders here, has a moment like this ever made you second-guess a channel decision you were confident about? Did you end up changing course, or did the data eventually back up your original call?

I've been running Google Ads for businesses in Dubai for over 3 years now. In that time I've formed a pretty firm view of this market: Google first, Meta layered in later once there's some brand presence, and a website isn't optional, it's the foundation everything else points to.

Yesterday that view got a proper test.

I'm currently running Google Ads for a client in the renovation/furniture space, about a month in, budget in the 2-4k AED/month range. The plan was to bring in Meta after 3 months once we had solid data on what converts.

My client mentioned he'd just hired a sales guy who previously worked at a company in Abu Dhabi. According to him, that company was getting solid, consistent business spending only 1000-1200 AED/month, purely on Instagram. I looked them up afterward. Confirmed: no website, no Google presence, just an Instagram page, and apparently doing fine.

My first reaction was honestly a bit defensive. Then I sat with it properly, and a few things stood out:

• This is one sales guy's account of results, not someone who was actually running the marketing or looking at the real numbers behind it
• Abu Dhabi and Dubai are not the same market. Different competition, different customer behavior, different cost per click
• One month of Google data isn't enough runway to fairly judge a channel that usually needs more time to optimize
• But I also can't fully dismiss it. Maybe that category genuinely converts well straight off Instagram with a low-friction, low-budget approach

Here's the part I keep coming back to though, and it's less about ad spend and more about the website itself. Instagram gets you found when someone's already looking for you or happens to see your content. It doesn't get you found when someone types "furniture repair near me" into Google. And increasingly, it doesn't get you found when someone asks ChatGPT or Gemini "who's a good furniture company in Dubai" either, those AI answers pull from indexed websites, not Instagram bios. No website means opting out of two growing sources of demand, not just one.

So maybe that Abu Dhabi company is doing fine right now. But "doing fine" and "not leaving anything on the table" aren't always the same thing, they just haven't hit the ceiling yet.

For business owners here, has a story like this ever made you second-guess your own setup? Have you ever compared notes with another business and realized the comparison wasn't really apples to apples?

How many here are doing any freelancing?