I am very cross this morning, my tweets probably show this only too well. I’ve had 2 radio interviews to discuss recent findings from Local Data Company and PwC regarding the level of openings and closures for high street chains (in this case those retailers with more than 6 stores). BBC Radio Sheffield were charming, listened to my thoughts, asked intelligent questions. London’s LBC were really challenging, apparently hoping I’d be full of doom and gloom… let me explain what happened!

Opening Statement: More high street stores are closing than opening…

I was listening to the preview before the conversation and the presenter, Nick Ferrari, said “the report says more stores are opening than closing” – here the age-old problem of lies, damn lies and statistics was happening… The report says that “An average of 14 town centre shops a day were shut by store chains last year as shoppers increasingly desert high streets for online and out-of-town retailers. Multiple retailers with six or more shops failed to open as many stores as they closed last year for the first time since 2008, according to a study of the 500 biggest town centres in theUKby PwC and Local Data Company.”

However, only last week Local Data Company reported that the average shop vacancy rate in the UK was STATIC at 14.3% – well unless something is opening to match the closures then that would not have been the case… and, according to BIRA (British Independent Retailers Association) something is opening, that something is Independent Retail shops.

I started by making this correction and went on to say that the future of our high street would depend on new, entrepreneurial retailers filling the void.

Next provocative statement:  Let’s get real, an art shop would never open in Hackney!

Well possibly not if the media keep telling them it’s an impossibility! At this point I was getting quite irritated by the interviewer – now I know he is supposed to be challenging and push on the buttons to get the points of view raised etc… but I was not impressed. I am determined to champion retailers and this really irritated me! After the riots I went to Hackney with Retail Trust and I know it’s a vibrant, lively community. Yes they have some issues, no one would ignore that, but there is no reason to be dismissive! Independent retailers don’t have to be expensive! What if a young creative person in Hackney got a chance with a special rental deal to open a shop to showcase their work? As a person in the local community they’d know what an acceptable price would be, they’d deeply understand their customer… Furthermore I completely believe that communities are very supportive of their local talent, they know that those who take a few risks and stick their neck out can bring a bit of prosperity back to an area. I felt furious on behalf of anyone in Hackney with a glimmer of an entrepreneurial dream as the interview had just mocked the possibility of such a business ever being a success.

His perspective was people don’t have the money, they need food, shoes etc… Indeed, and that’s why supermarkets, out of town and internet will always be with us – providing the “boring basics”. Our high streets may become the breeding ground for new businesses offering unique products for the local community – there is a place for both!

Market forces are turning homogenised high streets back into local, social, community places

Portas review and many others before her identified issues with UK towns (and Cities) becoming “clone towns” – each like the next, nothing special, nothing different. This means there is no real reason to go to a town, battle the British weather, pay for parking, carry the shopping because if there is nothing different then a shopping centre or online is easier and a more “controlled” environment.

It’s also well known that markets increase footfall to towns – whether they are regular weekly markets or speciality markets, ALL the retailers see an increase in footfall on market days. Why? Because consumers are interested in the diverse products and unique items that they can find on a market. The shopping experience is a delight to the senses and it’s friendly, fun and experiential.

That’s the clue… people ARE voting with their feet and retail is being forced to respond. As I said to BBC radio Sheffield – “This the natural evolution of our retail model to meet the demands of a changing consumer, the changes are the natural ebbs and flows of the industry as it repositions”. Towns with a vibrant, relevant, unique offer that attracts their local consumers are doing well. Towns without that are not BUT as the multiples migrate away from failing towns they leave gaps that new, risk-taking, fresh businesses may fill and in so doing the high street becomes less homogenised and returns to being more at the heart of the local community once more. Over time I really believe our high streets will revert to the mix of businesses consumers wants – and that won’t be exclusively retail – it will include leisure, services and things to do e.g. Kids play centres, cinemas, cafes and galleries. Each town will regain it’s personality… but it won’t happen overnight!

This isn’t nostalgia, this is facing up to permanent change in the way we shop that has been driven by the internet

This week, at the launch of the Rochdale High Street Foundation, I talked about how the internet has only been “transactional” for 18 years (in 1994 Pizza Hut launched online ordering and it was the first consumer proposition to offer that). The fact is that there has been a consumer revolution! The NEW consumer has access to the internet any time, any place, any where (thanks to mobile) and social media is part of their normal mode of communication. Retailers could consider that a threat, or they can embrace the opportunity. A friend of mine, Thomas Power, forecasts that in 10 years we’ll have Amazon or Independent retailers and that’s all… perhaps a bit overstated, but his point is chains will consolidate to a few mega brands and then the only place for choice and diversity will be independents. I don’t know if it will come to that, what I do know is that the internet drives transactional behaviours – consumers check prices and compare products for the lowest price deal. They’re not loyal to big retailers, they just want value. Independents on the other hand can drive loyalty through being 100% in tune with their local customer. Loyalty  is based on trust. Thomas’ wife, Penny Power, says that in this new economy businesses must win share of heart before they can win share of wallet. She is right. And people don’t usually “love” chains the way that they do their “friendly, local independent”.

So, the consumer revolution leads to a high street evolution – one which is local, is social, and embraces mobile (Lo-So-Mo) as it is called – this is the future of the high street; it’s just going to be a slow and probably painful process to arrive there!

Finally: Don’t let the media gloom-mongers drag your spirits down!

Before I finish I wanted to share that the interviewer said to me “I thought you’d be sharing a really gloomy outlook” – and I did reply something about “bad news sells”! Frankly we can’t ignore the pain of the shake-up of the retail sector and the ripple effect it will have on the economy BUT if all we do is focus on gloom no one will stand up to initiate the changes required. I want everyone to be bold, brave and to take (calculated / planned / considered) risks. If you see an opportunity in your town where a retailer has closed down, explore it. Landlords do not want empty premises and it is the next generation of businesses, young start-ups, who will turn the economy around. If you think you can do it then find out more. You may be pleasantly surprised

It is proven that consumers WILL buy themselves treats in times of austerity – to bring a little JOY into their lives. They have less to spend but there is still money being spent. Make sure it is with you!

Filed under: Consumer Trends, The Retail Champion

The spring is classically a time when you can create a lot of “newness” in your retail business. There are lots of events to plan for – Valentine’s, Mother’s day, Easter and the May bank holidays. In 2012 we’ve also got the added hype around the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.

Event based marketing

Retailers can take advantage of calendar events to market their business. One case study for this was achieved through another of my businesses, e-mphasis internet marketing, who helped Pizza Express double their website traffic and create a sales-peak for searches relating to “a place to eat on Valentine’s day.”

Why Google Places worked so well for event based marketing

The reason that e-mphasis and Pizza Express were able to create such an uplift around Valentine’s day was down to the fact that when updated Google Places listings index on search pretty much immediately. Unlike traditional SEO (which can take months to kick-in) changes are usually visible, to searching consumers, within a matter of hours. Unlike paid search (such as Adwords) there is no cost per click with Google Places – so your listing doesn’t disappear when all your budget is spent!

All this means that when you’ve got your Google Places listing claimed and updated you can begin to add event specific wording to ensure you get found by consumers searching for what you offer for the event or occasion in question.

It doesn’t have to be calendar events – ANY event based marketing works!

You don’t have to restrict your thinking to calendar events either – sporting events, religious events and general “life” events all work – here’s an example:

Do you sell ball gowns, evening dresses and occasion wear? If so you need to focus on prom dresses, summer balls, Christmas parties or wedding receptions. Then, people looking for “where can I buy a prom dress in [your location]” should see YOUR Google Places listing as the answer to their prayers…

Do you sell camping equipment and outdoor items? If so what about talking about music festivals. This is more about timing; people travel far and wide to festivals – but if someone who happened to be browsing on their mobile in your general location did a NON-location specific search for “what do I need to take to the Reading festival” – guess what? Clever GPS technology in their smartphone would figure out that YOU were the most local camping supplies shop to the searching consumer. If you had included “all you need for the Reading festival” in your Google Places then matching your result to that searching customer is easy for Google!

Just think about what YOU sell that people might need for an event or occasion

All you really need to do is try and think a bit laterally – What do YOU offer that people might want to celebrate the events that are coming up in the next 3-6 months? If you can incorporate events into your online marketing you’ll tap into a whole area of “undecided” consumers who are searching online for inspiration. Make sure you’re well positioned to BE the answer to their question!

If you want some help / advice on this then the e-mphasis team offer a one-off set up and optimisation of your Google Places listing for just £100…. so you could always give them a call on 0844 4145159

Filed under: Consumer Trends, Events, Increasing Sales, Seasonal Retail Tagged: e-mphasis internet marketing, event based marketing, google places

I was invited to write a guest blog for Claire Boyles who runs Success Matters (twitter: @claireboyles), it was to focus on Successes (and/or failures) in 2011. For Claire’s blog I decided to focus on how I’d had a success that may almost never have happened due to the limiting beliefs I’d formed as a result of listening to stories of other people’s “failures”. Here’s what I wrote…

Filed under: 10 steps to retail success, Independent Retailer Month, The Retail Champion

I was asked to write a piece for a magazine that involved reflecting on which of the major players in the UK retail market really set a great example that smaller, independent retailers can follow in order to mirror their success. The answer I gave is below…

Customer centric multi-channel retail operations

Marks and Spencer is a great example of how to run an efficient multi-channel operation. Their ecommerce site supplements their stores and the customer doesn’t ever need to feel that if they’ve bought through M&S online that they will have issues, for example, if they want to return items to stores. The channels work together in harmony for the benefit of the customer. This approach to the delivering a “customer-centric” experience SHOULD be the norm for all retailers, but in the most part the bigger players still have work to do to match the standards in multi-channel service experience set by M&S and also others, such as Argos and Game. Smaller retailers do have the opportunity to embed customer centricity into their business with relative ease. For example, if offering multiple channels (stores and online for instance) ensure that customers instore can browse and order via your website for collection instore, or, if customers want home delivery of their purchases, rather than selling to them through the EPOS, your sales staff could place the order on your ecommerce, on behalf of the customer, in order to trigger the home delivery.

Research has proven that the multi-channel customer, one who can browse via one channel and transact via another, is worth 130% of a single channel customer – so it’s an area where a smaller retailer, who would typically be more nimble and responsive, can deliver an excellent customer experience. Recent stats also show that in 2011 c. 10% of ALL online sales were “click and collect” – the convenience of picking up from the local store rather than waiting for a delivery is clearly something consumers value. When implementing your multi-channel thinking, your processes and systems, and when training your team, make sure you provision for click and collect (as well as “ring and reserve”) as these various ways to make your customers’ lives easier will enable you to build loyalty with them. One of the reasons that the internet has become so key to the consumer is access to information in a convenient format – extend that thinking of “making buying from you convenient” to all that you do to win their loyalty where your less nimble competition will fail.

Get your positioning right, be clear about what you offer and consistently deliver on your service promises.

Another retailer to take a look at is Hotel Chocolat – a true specialist who have enjoyed rapid expansion. Operating at the more luxury end of the market, their success has been underpinned by their constant service delivery, product quality, and instore presentation. Hotel Chocolat don’t compete on price, they compete on service and experience; able to charge a premium for their product due to the uniqueness of it and the whole brand experience. Consider the congruence of their brand positioning – the 4 key factors being product, price, presentation and service. Hotel Chocolat are higher end on all 4 of those areas, meaning that they lead their customers to expect a quality product, great service, in a beautiful store environment. With those expectations set, consumers also expect a higher price point than an average chocolate item. Thus, leveraging the whole brand experience, makes them “reassuringly expensive” (to quote Stella Artois) and customers have confidence and trust in the brand to part with their cash.

Smaller retailers can learn from this – in the face of the sheer buying power of the major chains smaller, independent retailers (as Hotel Chocolat was only a few years ago) need to stand out from the crowd as competing on price is suicide. When you move away from trying to compete on price, shifting your positioning and your total brand experience to competing on service and experience, THEN you can quite justifiably increase your prices. They beauty of this is that you will attract a more discerning customer, who buys into your brand experience and appreciates what you have to offer, rarely ever questioning your price point. When you compete on price you enter into a downward spiral, no one really benefits (apart from the consumer), and it is completely unsustainable. The kind of customers you will attract with a low price point / value based brand experience are typically very price sensitive, not buying into the great service and attention to detail that you, as a smaller retailer, can offer. All they are buying into the lowest possible price point. You won’t secure loyalty if you compete on price as you’ll be considered a commodity, so follow Hotel Chocolat’s example (and in fact the example also set by retailers such as White Company, Lush and Waitrose – all doing well where others are failing) and remember this mantra “don’t compete on price compete on service”!

Focus on agility, rapidly responding to consumer trends, and leveraging opportunities

Finally I’d like to mention Debenhams – not necessarily the first retailer to spring to mind for innovation but actually they are one of the most entrepreneurial “major players” out there. Debenhams make quick decisions and get to market even more quickly. One example was the rapid implementation of their cash-for-gold equivalent… Within literally days of the decision to offer a cash-for-gold service they’d gone live with it online. The interesting feature however for me was not specifically the fact they made a decision and implemented so quickly, it was the method / approach to the process and operational impact that was so clever. Debenhams offer gift cards to spend instore in lieu of the gold. Whilst making nothing on the actual cash-for-gold process they do engage their customer to spend the cash generated with them and to thus achieve the retail sales margin on the purchases those customers make.

Thinking gift cards generically, it is rare indeed that a customer ever spends exactly the amount on the card, often topping it up to get something of greater value than the card itself. What smaller retailers can learn from Debenhams is 2-fold:

1. Keep an eye on consumer trends, figure out how you can incorporate some of those trends in your offer, make a decision to do it and get on with it fast – you’ll get first to market advantage.
2. If you know that your customers buy gifts for others from your store (as opposed to just buying for themselves) then a gift card has great benefits and you should get one implemented!

The benefits of gift cards include:

1. Increased footfall – rather than your customer being the only visitor to your store the recipient of the gift card will now also visit. Perhaps they would not have done before; this is an opportunity to engage with a potential new customer.
2. Increased sales – the gift card itself is purely cash in lieu of a future purchase. Upon redemption classically consumers spend more than the value of the gift card, thus you have the opportunity to increase the sale beyond the budget of the original buyer of the gift card.

So all in all, taking a couple of leaves from Debenhams book could inspire you to really hook into key consumer trends and leverage opportunities that might exist for you that you might not have considered before…

Take inspiration from the successful retailers, and avoid being dragged down by all the doom and gloom!

In summary, take some time to look at those retailers who aren’t reporting doom and gloom – there are quite a few who have reported some impressive figures even when their high street neighbours are in dire straits. Usually these retailers share common attributes, which are ALL attributes that a smart independent retailer should quickly be able to adopt:

• They have a deep understanding of who their ideal customer is and thus deliver 100% relevancy in the product offer, pricing and promotions
• They have great positioning, in the main they are higher end, so that they don’t compete on price, they compete on service. By delivering consistent, reliable service, they create brand advocates amongst their customer base
• They have a fearless focus on growth – through getting it right and proving the concept these retailers KNOW their business opportunities. They are not being deterred by global financial gloom – they understand their customer, positioning, channel strategy and growth potential and they’re not afraid to invest in growth at a time when many are downsizing
• They have been able to leverage technology – most of these most successful retailers have engaged with technology – making themselves mobile-ready, having a strong social media presence, and including some cute interactive elements instore such as touch screen displays for product information. Actually whilst technology can be daunting it neither needs to be overly complex or massively expensive and really adds to the process of customer engagement through attraction, conversion and retention.
• They have very tight control on costs – it goes without saying fearless growth comes at a price – almost all successful retailers have keep a very close eye on profits, costs, efficiencies and cash flow – meaning that they have had confidence in their decisions based on cold, hard facts. Smaller retailers needs to be mindful of this, it’s cash flow NOT profitability that kills businesses! Keep close to the numbers; be utterly focused on the detail because this deep understanding of the financial dynamics of your business will give you the confidence to make decisions AND to know when to walk away from an opportunity.

Happy trading

Filed under: Consumer Trends, Increasing Sales, multi-channel, planning and controlling, positioning, Pricing and Promotions, Range Strategy, Retail Strategy, Service, The Retail Champion Tagged: customer centricity, independent retailers, marks and spencer, retail operations

I was asked to write a piece for a magazine that involved reflecting on which of the major players in the UK retail market really set a great example that smaller, independent retailers can follow in order to mirror their success. The answer I gave is below…

Customer centric multi-channel retail operations

Marks and Spencer is a great example of how to run an efficient multi-channel operation. Their ecommerce site supplements their stores and the customer doesn’t ever need to feel that if they’ve bought through M&S online that they will have issues, for example, if they want to return items to stores. The channels work together in harmony for the benefit of the customer. This approach to the delivering a “customer-centric” experience SHOULD be the norm for all retailers, but in the most part the bigger players still have work to do to match the standards in multi-channel service experience set by M&S and also others, such as Argos and Game. Smaller retailers do have the opportunity to embed customer centricity into their business with relative ease. For example, if offering multiple channels (stores and online for instance) ensure that customers instore can browse and order via your website for collection instore, or, if customers want home delivery of their purchases, rather than selling to them through the EPOS, your sales staff could place the order on your ecommerce, on behalf of the customer, in order to trigger the home delivery.

Research has proven that the multi-channel customer, one who can browse via one channel and transact via another, is worth 130% of a single channel customer – so it’s an area where a smaller retailer, who would typically be more nimble and responsive, can deliver an excellent customer experience. Recent stats also show that in 2011 c. 10% of ALL online sales were “click and collect” – the convenience of picking up from the local store rather than waiting for a delivery is clearly something consumers value. When implementing your multi-channel thinking, your processes and systems, and when training your team, make sure you provision for click and collect (as well as “ring and reserve”) as these various ways to make your customers’ lives easier will enable you to build loyalty with them. One of the reasons that the internet has become so key to the consumer is access to information in a convenient format – extend that thinking of “making buying from you convenient” to all that you do to win their loyalty where your less nimble competition will fail.

Get your positioning right, be clear about what you offer and consistently deliver on your service promises.

Another retailer to take a look at is Hotel Chocolat – a true specialist who have enjoyed rapid expansion. Operating at the more luxury end of the market, their success has been underpinned by their constant service delivery, product quality, and instore presentation. Hotel Chocolat don’t compete on price, they compete on service and experience; able to charge a premium for their product due to the uniqueness of it and the whole brand experience. Consider the congruence of their brand positioning – the 4 key factors being product, price, presentation and service. Hotel Chocolat are higher end on all 4 of those areas, meaning that they lead their customers to expect a quality product, great service, in a beautiful store environment. With those expectations set, consumers also expect a higher price point than an average chocolate item. Thus, leveraging the whole brand experience, makes them “reassuringly expensive” (to quote Stella Artois) and customers have confidence and trust in the brand to part with their cash.

Smaller retailers can learn from this – in the face of the sheer buying power of the major chains smaller, independent retailers (as Hotel Chocolat was only a few years ago) need to stand out from the crowd as competing on price is suicide. When you move away from trying to compete on price, shifting your positioning and your total brand experience to competing on service and experience, THEN you can quite justifiably increase your prices. They beauty of this is that you will attract a more discerning customer, who buys into your brand experience and appreciates what you have to offer, rarely ever questioning your price point. When you compete on price you enter into a downward spiral, no one really benefits (apart from the consumer), and it is completely unsustainable. The kind of customers you will attract with a low price point / value based brand experience are typically very price sensitive, not buying into the great service and attention to detail that you, as a smaller retailer, can offer. All they are buying into the lowest possible price point. You won’t secure loyalty if you compete on price as you’ll be considered a commodity, so follow Hotel Chocolat’s example (and in fact the example also set by retailers such as White Company, Lush and Waitrose – all doing well where others are failing) and remember this mantra “don’t compete on price compete on service”!

Focus on agility, rapidly responding to consumer trends, and leveraging opportunities

Finally I’d like to mention Debenhams – not necessarily the first retailer to spring to mind for innovation but actually they are one of the most entrepreneurial “major players” out there. Debenhams make quick decisions and get to market even more quickly. One example was the rapid implementation of their cash-for-gold equivalent… Within literally days of the decision to offer a cash-for-gold service they’d gone live with it online. The interesting feature however for me was not specifically the fact they made a decision and implemented so quickly, it was the method / approach to the process and operational impact that was so clever. Debenhams offer gift cards to spend instore in lieu of the gold. Whilst making nothing on the actual cash-for-gold process they do engage their customer to spend the cash generated with them and to thus achieve the retail sales margin on the purchases those customers make.

Thinking gift cards generically, it is rare indeed that a customer ever spends exactly the amount on the card, often topping it up to get something of greater value than the card itself. What smaller retailers can learn from Debenhams is 2-fold:

1. Keep an eye on consumer trends, figure out how you can incorporate some of those trends in your offer, make a decision to do it and get on with it fast – you’ll get first to market advantage.
2. If you know that your customers buy gifts for others from your store (as opposed to just buying for themselves) then a gift card has great benefits and you should get one implemented!

The benefits of gift cards include:

1. Increased footfall – rather than your customer being the only visitor to your store the recipient of the gift card will now also visit. Perhaps they would not have done before; this is an opportunity to engage with a potential new customer.
2. Increased sales – the gift card itself is purely cash in lieu of a future purchase. Upon redemption classically consumers spend more than the value of the gift card, thus you have the opportunity to increase the sale beyond the budget of the original buyer of the gift card.

So all in all, taking a couple of leaves from Debenhams book could inspire you to really hook into key consumer trends and leverage opportunities that might exist for you that you might not have considered before…

Take inspiration from the successful retailers, and avoid being dragged down by all the doom and gloom!

In summary, take some time to look at those retailers who aren’t reporting doom and gloom – there are quite a few who have reported some impressive figures even when their high street neighbours are in dire straits. Usually these retailers share common attributes, which are ALL attributes that a smart independent retailer should quickly be able to adopt:

• They have a deep understanding of who their ideal customer is and thus deliver 100% relevancy in the product offer, pricing and promotions
• They have great positioning, in the main they are higher end, so that they don’t compete on price, they compete on service. By delivering consistent, reliable service, they create brand advocates amongst their customer base
• They have a fearless focus on growth – through getting it right and proving the concept these retailers KNOW their business opportunities. They are not being deterred by global financial gloom – they understand their customer, positioning, channel strategy and growth potential and they’re not afraid to invest in growth at a time when many are downsizing
• They have been able to leverage technology – most of these most successful retailers have engaged with technology – making themselves mobile-ready, having a strong social media presence, and including some cute interactive elements instore such as touch screen displays for product information. Actually whilst technology can be daunting it neither needs to be overly complex or massively expensive and really adds to the process of customer engagement through attraction, conversion and retention.
• They have very tight control on costs – it goes without saying fearless growth comes at a price – almost all successful retailers have keep a very close eye on profits, costs, efficiencies and cash flow – meaning that they have had confidence in their decisions based on cold, hard facts. Smaller retailers needs to be mindful of this, it’s cash flow NOT profitability that kills businesses! Keep close to the numbers; be utterly focused on the detail because this deep understanding of the financial dynamics of your business will give you the confidence to make decisions AND to know when to walk away from an opportunity.

Happy trading

Filed under: Consumer Trends, Increasing Sales, multi-channel, planning and controlling, positioning, Pricing and Promotions, Range Strategy, Retail Strategy, Service, The Retail Champion Tagged: customer centricity, independent retailers, marks and spencer, retail operations

I commented on each of Mary Portas’ 28 recommendations in my earlier blog. I now want to focus on what I feel is missing, certainly at a glance, from the review. The internet has fundamentally changed the consumers expectation of what the shopping experience should be. High street retail can still play a critical role in the overall retail service delivery, but, there needs to be a shift in mindset. Something that’s been talked about for a good 5 years but rarely effectively implemented…

Delivering a truly joined up multi-channel service experience

It’s not new news that the multi-channel shopper is worth 130% of a single channel shopper; experts at businesses such as K3 Retail have been saying this for a couple of years.

What are new and impressive stats are that:

• about 60% of consumers research online with the intent of buying in store
• 10% of online transactions are now for click and collect

So anyone who thinks the high street doesn’t have relevance is wrong!

What role should the evolving high street play?

What matters for the survival of the high street is that it can evolve to support current and future needs and wants of the community it serves. Each should be different; clone towns will become a thing of the past (thank goodness)!

Retailers such as Ryman and a few others have had the sense to add courier collection points to some of their stores – they’re increasing footfall (and therefore the opportunity for impulse purchase) in their high street locations by offering a service. Ecommerce only retailers, such as Figleaves and Amazon, are also offering various solutions for local collection points that take away the time-based element (and thus inconvenience) of home delivery.

In a future vision of the high street I believe shops will play the role of showrooms and collection points, most orders can be made online or via mobile. Interaction with product and advice from well trained staff will still be necessary for some purchases. Less retail property will be needed, that’s almost certain, BUT the high street needs to play a role in the community that it serves.

In a future vision that high street probably has a reasonable array of retail – from a Tesco Express, or similar small-format supermarket, to a variety of unique independents. The overall amount of retail space will reduce making way for more experiential and service related B2C businesses – from day care to libraries, from betting shops to beauty salons. There may be a need to redevelop some property into housing too; bring the consumer closer to the service providers.

The crux of the future will be about each high street being relevant and tailored to the needs and wants of the community it serves.

The internet only accounts for a fraction of overall retail sales…

Whilst clearly there is a shift towards online shopping, and this will be a trend for the long term, online sales are presently only a fraction of the overall retail sales that come from “bricks and mortar”. We must not loose sight of this. There are still a vast proportion of shoppers who DO visit the high street, who need local goods and services. Parking may well be irrelevant to them – they either don’t drive, can’t drive or can’t afford to drive – depending on public transport and accessible shopping. The elderly, students, low income families – all need an accessible high street.

Many people report that they still enjoy the social aspect of going to their local high street – and regardless of how engaged we are online and how tied to “facebook on the mobile” we still need face to face interactions!

Others simply like to browse the products, to be inspired by the visual merchandising and to enjoy the “sensational” aspects of a visit to the shops – sight, sound, taste, touch, smell.

How can the failing high streets be turned around?

There are high streets which are in a downward spiral and these are the ones that some of the suggestions made by Mary Portas in the high street review can really help (especially around BIDs and rates).  These need a co-ordinated effort to create a sustainable platform for businesses, employment and the community.

Others, where there are customers still willing to spend, need to focus on their customer engagement – attraction, conversion, retention and encouraging advocacy. My experience, and one echoed by Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London, is that too many retailers and their staff particularly are delivering seriously POOR SERVICE. Vanessa had a feature on air on both 16th and 17th of November 2011 about how she was “trying to buy” an item. She was overwhelmed by callers who also had “tried to buy” items but retailers had neither stock nor much inclination to sell to them. Where has the passion gone? Where has the service ethic gone? Why is no one hungry to make the sale anymore? Well that’s a whole other blog… I can talk about my own “trying to buy” experience in Phones4U in St Albans high street too!

So, what is the magic formula to save the high streets?

There isn’t one, and anyone who thought Mary Portas could create it will be disappointed. That’s not any reflection on how much Mary did achieve, but simply their expectations were too high and this will take a LONG time.

Each town centre has it’s unique needs. Local authorities need to have the ability to apply a mix of measures to promote sustainable business in their areas. Business owners need to be sure that their proposition is appropriate for the local catchment area and plan their costs in detail to ensure their trade will support the rent, rates, utilities and staffing costs both now and in the future (assuming increasing cost base for the timebeing).

I am sorry that there is no quick fix, but, to echo 3 words that I think do encapsulate the purpose and the feeling being the Portas Review, it’s going to be about “communication, collaboration and compromise”.

Lets hope that the actions resulting from this bring about some positive change in 2012.

Filed under: channel and location, Consumer Trends, multi-channel, Retail Strategy, The Retail Champion Tagged: future of the high street, high street review, mary portas, multi-channel

This blog introduces the eighth step, of the “10-steps to retail success“, Supply Chain. 10-steps to retail success is a process / methodology I’ve developed for my 1-2-1 mentoring clients. Over the coming weeks / months I’ll be introducing each step with a little more detail.

3 Elements to managing the Supply Chain

There are 3 main ingredients I advise all smaller retailers to include in their processes. These include:

• Selecting a Supplier
• Managing the relationship
• Managing physical logistics

Supplier Selection Process

There is more to choosing a supplier than just picking the one who can provide the right product for the right price and at the right quality.

You need to consider the ethics and values of the supplier – are they a business you can work with? Is there a good basis for the ongoing relationship?

You also need to consider their flexibility – will they be able to support the ebbs and flows of your business, increase and decrease order quantities etc?

Finally it’s worth checking their reputation – in the same way as your customers will check consumer review about your business you would be wise to seek references or check into recommendations / testimonials for your supplier.

Supplier Relationship

Once you’ve chosen a supplier you need to manage the relationship. This is all about the ongoing communications, negotiations and performance management that will be required to maintain an effective and respectful, professional relationship with your supplier.

Physical Logistics

Finally you need to be water tight on your relationship with your physical logistics provider, especially if they are doing outbound deliveries to your customers. They are the final touch point a customer will experience when they receive your products – so it’s critical that they understand the role they pay in keeping the promises you make to your customers.

Introducing Step 9 of the 10-steps to retail success – Planning and Controlling

In the next blog about the 10 steps to retail success I’ll be introducing step 9, Planning and Controlling. If you can’t wait then don’t forget that I’m also offering the “Be a retail champion by next year” programme, which includes 52 FREE weekly retail tips by email.

To sign up for that visit www.retailchampion.co.uk/retail-tips

Filed under: 10 steps to retail success, Retail Strategy, robust repeatable processes, saleable business, scalable, supply chain Tagged: physical logistics, supplier relationship, supplier selection, supply chain

This blog introduces the eighth step, of the “10-steps to retail success“, Supply Chain. 10-steps to retail success is a process / methodology I’ve developed for my 1-2-1 mentoring clients. Over the coming weeks / months I’ll be introducing each step with a little more detail.

3 Elements to managing the Supply Chain

There are 3 main ingredients I advise all smaller retailers to include in their processes. These include:

• Selecting a Supplier
• Managing the relationship
• Managing physical logistics

Supplier Selection Process

There is more to choosing a supplier than just picking the one who can provide the right product for the right price and at the right quality.

You need to consider the ethics and values of the supplier – are they a business you can work with? Is there a good basis for the ongoing relationship?

You also need to consider their flexibility – will they be able to support the ebbs and flows of your business, increase and decrease order quantities etc?

Finally it’s worth checking their reputation – in the same way as your customers will check consumer review about your business you would be wise to seek references or check into recommendations / testimonials for your supplier.

Supplier Relationship

Once you’ve chosen a supplier you need to manage the relationship. This is all about the ongoing communications, negotiations and performance management that will be required to maintain an effective and respectful, professional relationship with your supplier.

Physical Logistics

Finally you need to be water tight on your relationship with your physical logistics provider, especially if they are doing outbound deliveries to your customers. They are the final touch point a customer will experience when they receive your products – so it’s critical that they understand the role they pay in keeping the promises you make to your customers.

Introducing Step 9 of the 10-steps to retail success – Planning and Controlling

In the next blog about the 10 steps to retail success I’ll be introducing step 9, Planning and Controlling. If you can’t wait then don’t forget that I’m also offering the “Be a retail champion by next year” programme, which includes 52 FREE weekly retail tips by email.

To sign up for that visit www.retailchampion.co.uk/retail-tips

Filed under: 10 steps to retail success, Retail Strategy, robust repeatable processes, saleable business, scalable, supply chain Tagged: physical logistics, supplier relationship, supplier selection, supply chain