Archive for the ‘consumer trends’ Category

Independents day - July 4th !

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Your high street needs you

Your high street needs you

What is Independents’ Day?

Well, Skillsmart Retail and the National Skills Academy for Retail are teaming up with local retailers across the country on 4th July to celebrate Independents’ Day, championed by the formidable Mary Portas. Shoppers are going to be encouraged to buy at least one item from their local independent reatailers and celebrate diversity on the high street.

They are championing the skills great independent retailers have and they want to show the public that their local shopkeeper is not only a vital service, but someone who wears many hats; they are the accountant, sales assistant, buyer and often everything in-between. Well, amen to that ! From all of us who are getting dizzy with the multiple chameleonic roles we play in a single day this will be welcome news. This is all part of the campaign to back the high street and maintain diversity, while getting rid of the ugly eyesore empty shops.

Firstly the government appointed a retail adviser to bring back the bustle to our high streets, which was contraversial enough. It proved that there was a problem with our city centres and high streets (which we’ve all known for ages), finally, it seems that even the government noticed that.

When this new retail adviser, as her first initiative, launches a “declaration of independents” its time to sit up and pay attention. When you learn that its Mary Portas of “Mary Queen of Shops” fame, its time to take out a notebook and start taking notes !

Mary Portas is known for no-nonsense plain speaking and innovative ideas. Her ideas boost retailers enthusiasm, knowledge, skill base and earnings. With a successful retail background and a commercially savvy consultancy agency, she marries the two areas in her own unique way.

It is tough on the High Street and has been for some time. With town centre vacancy rates doubling over the last two years, the need to take action to save our high streets has never been more obvious. Consumers have seen their discretionary income fall as the cost of just about everything has risen. So in real terms this means less money to spend on anything that isn’t a necessity.

Some retailers have fared better than others and there have been some well publicised casalties in the bigger chains. But the real story in the change of the high street has been that of the independent. Over the past 40 years Britain has changed from being a “nation of shopkeepers” with vibrant high streets, buoyant with diverse retailers, to one where the chain stores are represented everywhere, leading to charges of “Clone town”

Clone towns are not a good idea for many reasons, primarily that Independent businesses are vital to our local economies. They ensure the unique character of an area. They are more accountable to customers and the local community, more likely to support local charities and have greater direct control over the environmental impact of their businesses.

Furthermore, money spent at locally owned independent businesses goes around longer in the local economy. It yields two to four times the economic benefit to the local residents compared with non-local businesses. This means more local income, wealth, and jobs and of course the intangible aspect of community.

Supporting independent businesses creates local jobs, preserves economic diversity and safeguards the environment and that has to be a good thing. Whilst the larger stores are the anchors in our cities and towns, its the independent businesses who offer the diversity thats lacking and the mix that keeps it all interesting, as well as being a valued link in the community, which seems to be so sadly underrated and under reported.

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Posted in Customers, Emerging trends, Independent retailers, Independents Day, Mary Portas, Publicity, Retailing in a recession, The High Street, Uncategorized, brand ambassadors, consumer trends, optimism | No Comments »

There’s definately something about Mary !”

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

Mary Takes on the High Street

Mary Takes on the High Street

Its the biggest retail news since woollies closed its doors.

Mary Portas has been asked by the Government to take a look at our ailing high streets…. (about time too, i can hear you chorus) As she says, “the city centre picture is one of steep decline. Three years ago six per cent of high street shops were vacant; by the end of last year the figure had grown to 14 per cent. At this rate, in two years’ time, more than a third of city centre shops will be boarded up, But it’s not just the shops that are going from our high streets; banks and post offices are disappearing too. As they go, we lose a feeling of community because the high street is the heart of a town. And, as high streets empty, the crime rate increases.”

If you’re nodding your head in agreement, the question really is, what should we be doing ? Are the high streets worth saving, or are we just entering a new digital age and we all just need to move on and make space for the big retailers ….? What do you think we should do to revive the high street ? Or shouldn’t we bother, is it a case of change or die ?

Mary is asking for our opinions, and this is as good a time as any to add your comments into the pot - hopefully something good will come of it, maybe she’ll be able to persuade landlords that upward only rent reviews and quarterly rents payable in advance aren’t such a cool option…?

You can follow Mary’s quest on her website www.maryportas.com Here’s an extract from there to get you in the mood

In May this year, I was challenged by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to undertake an independent review on the Future of the High Street – to help ‘bring back the bustle’ to our town centres.

And with town centre vacany rates doubling over the last two years, the need to take action to save our high streets has never been starker.

I am calling on business, local authorities and shoppers to contribute their ideas on how we can halt this decline in its tracks and create town centres that we can all be proud of.

If you’ve got something to say about the state of our high streets – be it an observation, insight, initiative or idea – please add your own contribution to the debate.

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Posted in Emerging trends, Independent retailers, Mary Portas, Questions to ask, The High Street, Uncategorized, consumer trends, retailers | 1 Comment »

Retail sales worst for 15 years

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

banging-your-head-against-a-wallRetail sales fell in March by the biggest margin since records began, according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The BRC said that total sales during the month were down around 1.9 per cent when compared with the same month last year. This represented the worst performance since 1996, when the survey was started. Factors such as the late Easter impact these figures but its not really easy to say how much?

Like for like sales were 3.5 per cent lower than the previous year which is the worst like for like performance since 2005. So nothing to celebrate there for retailers.

Meanwhile online sales remained quite resilient. They were up by 7.5 per cent, which in other fields would be a rocking increase, but this is still lower than the 10.4 per cent increase registered in February. So in real terms its not good news.

The late Easter is partly to blame for the figures according to the BRC, but this alone is not enough to explain the poor performance of retail.

Instead, analysts have suggested that rising prices, the coalition’s VAT increase, and real-terms wage cuts for many workers are likely to be the cause. Basically knocking consumer confidence if not into the ground, at least into a wooded area.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said:
“This is the worst drop in total sales since we first collected these figures in 1995. Non-food retailers were particularly hard-hit. This is strong evidence of the pressure customers and traders are under. This year’s later Easter is a factor but this fall goes way beyond anything that can be explained by that alone.

“Uncomfortably high inflation and low wage growth have produced the first year-on-year fall in disposable incomes for thirty years. Mounting fuel and utility costs, falling house prices, higher VAT and the prospect of more tax rises and job losses left people unwilling to spend unless they really had to. These pressures aren’t going away and the arrival of higher National Insurance is likely to compound them in the immediate future.

“The next interest rate decision is a difficult balancing act for the Bank of England but, for now, supporting our weak economy must be the priority. Inflation is coming mainly from temporary and external price shocks - VAT, world commodity prices and the weak pound - not wage or consumer-driven increases. Increasing interest rates would do more harm than good.”

Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail, KPMG, said:
“The food sector suffered in the month due to Easter purchasing falling into March last year, thus impacting the overall results. However, beyond this the trend continues in a marked downward direction: non-food continues to struggle, with big-ticket and home-related sectors again being the hardest hit. We have seen an emergence of new, lower spending patterns since the middle of January, which are currently continuing to trend downwards. Many retailers will not be able to sustain this ongoing weakness in demand beyond the short term and are hoping for some good news around the extended bank holiday period and a feel-good factor driven by the royal wedding.”

where, I hear you ask, is the good news ? The short answer is that there isn’t any - apart from three bank holidays that may get shoppers back onto the high street, but even these three days aren’t magical days that can make up for the lack of confidence and disposable income, so while we have sunshine, daffodils and longer evenings, all of which are long overdue, we don’t sadly have any good news for retailers… yet !

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Posted in Bad news, Challenge, Easter, Emerging trends, Sales, Uncategorized, consumer trends, recession | No Comments »

There’s an app for everything…

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Apps

Apps

Following a consumer insight survey, Price Waterhouse Cooper are predicting a post-recession permanent change in shopping behaviour, with shoppers taking a more thoughtful approach to buying, rather than obsessing over deal seeking. Although they do admit that many of the new skills in money saving learned during the recession will still be used, such as price comparison websites, loyalty schemes and voucher collecting for example.

Heading out of recession, they predict that new spending groups will come to dominate in our stores. Generations X & Y as opposed to the Baby Boomers that spent their way out of previous recessions. Now if Generation X is a well known soft drink advertisement to you, hold on for a quick run through the demographics.
Generation X are aged from 29 to 45, while Generation Y are aged from 10 to 28. The top end of Generation X is in the middle of a high spending stage in life, and Generation Y has a willingness to spend, especially on new technologies – Which won’t be news to anyone who’s part of the new App age !

Coming out of this recession, customers are expecting to buy differently, across many channels, so they may buy in store, on-line, via a catalogue or through a third party, this “seamless shopping” is creating many challenges for retailers, How can we give our customer the same experience, availability and service from our brand however the consumer chooses to shop ?

In the very early days of ecommerce (that’s only around 10 years ago), multichannel retailing was almost unheard of. But it has since grown and developed within every retail sector - even clothing and fashion, which cynics said would never work online. Integrating systems using technology to maximise benefits is the new challenge.

Technology is a great leveller, small independent businesses can compete on a more level playing field with large stores, if they understand how to use technology to their advantage, and of course if they have the budget to fund it.

A good example of using technology to promote retail was recently launched in Wigan, where they are piloting a town centre trading push.

HometownPlus is designed to “get more people to visit their hometown more often and spend more money locally” by enabling consumers, using a smartcard or phone app, to access personalised offers and savings. This scheme is designed to complement, not compete with, retailer loyalty programmes.

Retailers and other participants in the WiganPlus debut project, will benefit from the opportunity to drive footfall, target promotions and access real-time shopping data. Independent stores are likely to be the first on board, but they hope that multiples will see the benefits and join too.

This scheme will receive £230,000 Government match-funding and comes in the wake of increased concern about the appeal of town centres. (Empty stores in town centres stand at 12% according to The Local Data Company).

I think that most of our towns could benefit from such a visionary scheme which treats the town centre as a live venue, promotes it and keeps it in the forefronts of shoppers minds.

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Posted in Independent retailers, Retailing in a recession, Uncategorized, consumer trends, technology | No Comments »

Why we’ve got to break the rules…!

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Create some buzz

Create some buzz

We’re all under constant pressure to conform. From our earliest days we want to fit in. We want to be liked at school and with our friends. We don’t want to stand out. We’re told to work hard, to get a “proper job”, to do what we’re told and somehow it will all be ok…?

And now, as business owners we’re supposed to do what everyone else does… panic, bed in, and hope for the best, or the swift passing of this recession – Inshallah ! But there’s a problem with this way of thinking…. and the problem is that it takes the locus of control away from us…

Successful entrepreneurs and business owners refuse to conform because conforming means doing what everyone else does. Its clear that many businesses will struggle in the year ahead, and if we do what they’re doing then we’ll struggle too. As the old saying goes, “if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got”. The rather more well known version goes – “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” So, we must be different, we must do things differently…. So what can we do?

Firstly, don’t cut our marketing and advertising (unless you know its not working) Look for ways to attract customers at a low cost. I’m a big believer in marketing, especially when we don’t have any spare dosh for advertising – Marketing is just a fancy term for being creative in everything you do that promotes your business, and for a very small outlay you can generate some very positive publicity for your business. How can you get people talking about your business? After all referrals are the cheapest and most reliable way to bring in new business.

Secondly, don’t buy into the belief that people aren’t spending money. While it’s clear that consumers decision making process on how to spend money has changed, if you understand the sales process and the value proposition you can position your business as the first choice for your customers.

The third idea is Implementation – try things, better a good plan today than a great plan tomorrow! Don’t wait until everything is just so, just jump in and have a go! This is a perfect time to try things you’ve always thought about doing…. So loyalty cards, birthday clubs, open evenings, workshops, fashion cafes…. Whatever you go with, the only requisite is that we take action, remember, nodding is fun to do, but largely ineffective.

Finally, whatever you do, don’t conform to the countries negative mindset. There is a comfort in joining in the whole recession conversation, but just as you choose what to wear in the morning, you can choose your mental outlook.
Don’t ignore the recession and pretend its not there in a tra la la la la kind of way, but just don’t act from a mindset of fear, make the changes that need to be made from the mindset of focus and determination. This is really the time to market yourself shamelessly- Have some fun with your marketing – really push the boat out, get everyone together and think of the stories and possibilities around your business.

While we’re talking about money, its worth remembering that the same amount of money still moves around every day, regardless of whether the stock market is up or down, and regardless of whether house prices go up or down, it’s still moving. Whenever there’s a segment that’s going through a down cycle, there’s a segment going through an up cycle. So, bearing this in mind, how could you position yourself and your business to be in the position to receive some of this flowing money?

Which are the media that your target customers read, which places do they go to? Which organisations do they belong to? How creative can you be in getting a potential list of new customers together? Check out the library, the post office, online forums, local centres and community opportunities.

Once you’ve found them, how can you communicate to them in a way that resonates with them, on twitter, facebook, by email, by post, by poster, by banner, an invitation, a declaration, a modification ? – What’s going to work best for your potential customers?

The only limit is how creative you can be – Remember there’s no prizes for conforming ! Give yourself a big target ( It’ll be easier to hit )- So for April, why not make it your goal to create some buzz around your business – with the end goal of converting some buzz into business (sales) and have some fun doing it.

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Posted in Adding value, Building a media profile, Conforming, Independent retailers, PMA, Positive mental attitude, Publicity, Retailing in a recession, consumer trends, marketing | No Comments »

The lipstick effect - Adding value in a recession.

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

The lipstick effect

The lipstick effect

What on earth is the lipstick effect?

Well, the lipstick effect is one of the consumer trends forecast for 2009. Basically, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that “consumption is more resilient than people might think” and the bad (ish) news is that the consumers mindset has turned to “recession-spending”

So, the idea goes that in a recession spending mentality, consumers veto expensive holidays and cars, but as life goes on and they still want some treats to look forward to, they save money in one place while treating themselves in another. So while they’re buying own brand groceries, their weekly treats will be more luxurious. Clarins hand cream as opposed to Atrixo, ladies, or a massage instead of a T shirt !

This self-treating phenomenon, will be really important in 2009, and will lead into other areas such as health and general well being. As people hunker down and retreat into their own homes more for entertainment and solace. Spending on homes is supposed to rise as people anticipate spending more time in their homes and entertaining more often at home. A move called “cocooning” which makes a lot of sense, particularly for some people there’ll be a worry about maintaining their homes, so the home automatically assumes more value than its had in the past.
On the shopping front, there’ll be a lot of loyalty for brands that focus on quality and value, and value can be interpreted, not only in the financial sense, but in the broader sense of adding meaning to our lives. So we can expect brands to be advertising through the recession.

Rather unsurprisingly, conspicuous consumption is expected to become less trendy and accepted, so bling is out, and care over your choices is in. This also ties in with the general trend for “thriftiness” and knocks on into the “green” trend.
On-line shopping is set to continue rising, for many reasons, simplicity and comfort of purchase(no lugging boxes around crowded shopping centres), hidden purchases (What this old thing? I’ve had it ages !) the ability to check prices with ease, and the fact that the internet has made certain types of business transparent. While the experts say that for marketing and PR purposes, online social networking sites are doing the business, and innovative online campaigns are thriving.

Although I don’t want to disparage the expert trend analysts, on a personal note, I have to say that town this weekend was swinging, the restaurants were all fully booked, shops were busy, there were queues and people seemed upbeat, indeed looking about the restaurant on Saturday night, the only question you’d be asking is “What bloody recession?” But maybe that’s just my small neck of the woods?

The real question for retailers is how can we take this knowledge and adapt our businesses and our offer to these changing consumer trends. If we’re smart the next question is how we can use the messages contained in them for our advertising and marketing?

Buzz words such as saving, treats and value are obvious winners, but how else can you promote the value in your products?

In a contacting economy people are more sensitive to receiving genuine value, they want to be sure they’re getting a good deal. So businesses that deliver value can actually do better during a recession. So instead of focusing on making more money, why not put your energy into creating and delivering real value. Find out what people REALLY want and then figure out a way to give it to them.
Note that it’s a two way process, well, three actually, you’ve got to find out what’s missing for your customers, create something to fill this gap and then go and deliver this product or service…..

So finding means – really searching for some answers ! Creating means putting your unique talent to work to plug a hole in someone’s expectations and delivering means – Making sure you’re actually getting your product or service across and people are actually benefiting from the value you’ve created.

If you don’t do all three, then it’ll be hard to receive value (money in return) If your shop is beautiful but no-one knows you’re there then you haven’t created value. If you have amazing products that will make consumers feel good, but they don’t know about them, then you haven’t created value.

Make sure you spend your time equally, finding, creating and then delivering, please remember that delivering doesn’t simply mean advertising, get creative around this area – why not set yourself a budget, say £50 and see what you can create for this, rather than waiting for magazines to call you…?

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Posted in Adding value, Retailing in a recession, consumer trends | 1 Comment »