Tuesday April 6, 2021
Who led the retail revolution?
It’s the chicken and the egg all over again, which came first? The websites to drive sales online or the change in customer retail habits that was met with the solution of sales online?
We know our work-life balance has changed over the last ten years, never mind the last year. Families invariably are made up of working people who balance the responsibilities of earning, childcare, shopping, schooling, and the unenviable home chores. And those who live on their own are overwrought with the pressures of work, paying the bills, and finding the right balance.
The idea of actually going leisure shopping during a 9am to 5pm timeframe feels so out of kilter with our hectic lives and has been for a long while. Mostly we are all working, committed to a responsibility or activity that prevents us having the leisure time to stroll aimlessly around browsing and buying.
We’re a nation of commuters, or we were until recently. We work longer hours, switching off later in the day and leaving even less opportunity for retail leisure time.
We are over stimulated, force fed messages all day via our mobile devices and heavily influenced by what others say and do online. Algorithms dictate our social feeds, our interests and know more about our potential habits than we even care to admit.
AI, technology and algorithms are building a strong alliance with our favourite brands and feeding us what we want and need in our lives at a time and place that suits us.
The customer rarely goes direct to the business, the brand and services now make themselves known to the customer. Adverts, posts, blogs and interactions with the ultimate goal of engaging a customer for a sale. As a business you may need to work harder to attract your customer.
It’s no surprise to learn that at least 30% of all sales are influenced by social media. The majority of impulse sales online are made after 7pm, and since March 2020 there has been a huge increase of 25% and upwards of retail purchases taking place online in the UK alone.
If it takes six weeks to break a habit or create a new habit, try 12 months. We’ve all been encouraged to buy online, and that trend will not stop anytime soon. The brick-and-mortar shops will have to change if they are going to entice us to step over their threshold once again. Yes, we’ve missed them, but we’ve managed. Yes, we love talking to people but if we have to wear masks with our steamed-up glasses, it isn’t quite the joy we all remember and enjoyed in the past.
A glimpse into the future of our high streets
The high street needs to aesthetically pleasing, vibrant and provide an enjoyable visit, providing sensory and visually impactful experiences. Beautiful evocative smells and noises, demonstrations, interactions and visual appeal will need to fill our senses and encourage us to engage and participate.
A shopkeeper standing behind a counter with a queue to enter a shop at a safe distance may be necessary but will not add to our customer experience and may make us decide to shop elsewhere.
Our weekends will be our precious hang-out time when we will be looking to make physical purchases influenced by a feel-good vibe. Local artisan producers, makers and crafts will sit alongside indie businesses and together they should look to present a vibrant offer of food, drink, talent and products. During the week the majority of sales and marketing will be online, and the stores will be able to sell through these channels to leverage their income, increase their engagement and influence their followers.
High streets should explore pop-ups, workshop spaces with retail and an evolving retail market. Councils should expect landlords to present properties that are habitable, well-maintained and ready for tenancy. Not a run-down old shop with rotten window frames, leaking ceiling and peeling paint that requires a small business owner to spend valuable cash in making it ‘good’ before even being able to begin to trade.
Our high streets need life and activity and to be able to manifest into lively centres that offer the variety to meet the demands of our lifestyles and well-being with a mix of retail, hot desk workspaces, workshops for creators and more food premises. If we are to learn from the last 12 months, it is that we all love our food and drink but also importantly we care about our hair, beauty, fitness and alterative health treatments.
We want experiences that engage, teach and make us feel good
The high street offer needs to be more in pace with demand and provide exciting opportunities that are available in the physical form and online for ease of supporting local beyond limited opening hours. The success of online marketplaces has shown that together there is power in the collaborative offer with shared social media posts, marketing promotions, choice and the presentation of the overall offer. Never has there been a more important time to work together to ensure the local message is strong, loud and clear.
If we want people to support local, we have to make it accessible, inviting and easy.