It’s time to change
How did we end up here? Where do we go now?
I’m sure this is on everyone in retail industry’s on mind right now. We’ve never had this amount of uncertainty before in front of us.In the past decade, we’ve seen declining of high street and a lot of companies closing its shops.
Many retail business will disappear during and after Covid-19 but let’s be honest, we’ve had a problem in retail industry way before we were struck with Covid-19. Many high street brands has been suffering for years or even more than a decade.
The brands and departments stores I grew up with are on a deflationary trend. The problem we have on the high street is quite clear from my perspective. These are my personal views as a customer of high street.
Firstly, there are too much out there. Too many choices, too much stock, too many of the same thing from different shops. This is driven by lack of creativity, original ideas and a lot of copying culture out there. It’s the same thing but different versions of at different price points. The markets flooded with same products so the competitions is high. This leads to sales being generated more from mark downs. To move away from this trend. You have to create authentic and unique designs. Why are we competing with each other when we can compliment each other? Consumers are thirsty for unique products and experiences.
Secondly, footfall will continuously fall on the high street because shops are so predictable. It’s the same versions from last year or even a shop next door. Consumers time is precious so we have to truly respect people’s time. No one wants to spend their time going into a shop where the environment is uninspiring. We have to create an environment and experience they want to come back to and feel joyful from. One thing we know is that British people love queuing. We wait for 2 hours to go to the new cool retaurants. Why? Because it’s new and we want to see what ‘Bao’ tastes like. We have to bring new ideas and spontaneity into the high street. Create the excitement and buzz. Be relevant with the times and keep moving on with the new exciting ideas. There are two ways for retailers going forward convenience or entertainment or both if you can!
Lastly, the entrepreneurship within the established high street brand is non-extent. Just look how technology has changed our lives in past 10 years. The way we shop, communicate and work has evolved. There hasn't been much breakthrough to compliment these changes in the retail. Our lifestyle and needs have changed and the high street doesn’t reflect this at all. If it ain’t working, you got to change it. Most of the businesses have to have a start up mentality to give the business longevity and grow in a direction consumer demands now. Business have to think like Henry Ford. Quote I’m going give you is:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Henry Ford
We have to create the new way of thinking for our industry to think out of box. This has be a new habit of the industry. The opportunity is out there but we have to re-think with creativity at it’s core to make our high street lively again.
High street is where people connect in person and place to congregate in more isolating times. It’s such an important space in our society. We have to revive it as we desperately need it.
Covid is given us time to breath and reflect. This is the time for all of us in retail to evolve and create more job opportunities and be more satisfied from work. No one wants to work for an uninspiring brand without a vision or purpose. There should be a blurred line between employees and customers. Employees are your best marketing team and by creating a strong purpose lead business you create strong community with your customers who will engage with your brand. People want to be part of the creativity and a movement.
I truly believe this is our time to innovate and most importantly be truly creative.