Tomorrow’s winning brands will use both high street and online
Straight-talking common sense from the front line of management
Q
With the news that Toys R Us is set to return to Britain’s high streets four years after falling into administration, what advice would you give to a company launching (or relaunching) as a bricks-and-mortar retailer now?
A
Current concern with the omicron strain may have reduced this year’s expected Christmas shopping spree, but anyone buying last-minute presents will find that most town centres are still busy. Suggestions that the high street is about to die are way off the mark. Lower rents are encouraging the opening of new independent retailers and the expansion of successful chains including Primark and B&M Bargains.
Lots of household names are never likely to reappear. John Collier, Freeman Hardy & Willis, Radio Rentals, Richard Shops, Timothy White & Taylors, Dewhurst, and Bewlay, the tobacconist, have all gone, as has Mac Fisheries. But before I move on, let me give you a piece of retail trivia to share over Christmas dinner. In 1918, William Lever, Lord Leverhulme, the industrialist who built Lever Brothers, bought the Isle of Harris for £55,000. To help the local economy, he developed its fishing industry. To create a market for the fish, he then opened a chain of 400 shops called Mac Fisheries.
Some retailers, such as Woolworths and BHS, went out of business because they failed to keep up to date. With such a shattered reputation, it would be foolhardy to bring those names back to the high street. Others, notably Debenhams, disappeared under a mountain of debt and tarnished the brand in the process. The rot set in when shareholders saddled the company with borrowings and extracted cash through institutional loans, and the sale and lease back of freehold property. Pure retailing isn’t the main aim of a venture capitalist, which is why I worry about recent deals at Asda and Morrisons.
Although the UK arm of Toys R Us ran out of money in 2018, the brand still trades all over the world and has retained an online presence over here. Since its stores disappeared, they have left a gap in the market. But it may be wise to forget about the original format and return with a more child-friendly layout. Argos, Amazon and the Toys R Us retail sheds all fall far short of the magic of Hamleys and The Entertainer, where toy shopping is a real experience.
I’m about to tackle my most difficult task. Every three years I write a Timpson annual report for 15 years’ time. This time, I have to get my thinking around the content of a report for 2037, by which time more than half the things that will dominate our daily lives have yet to be invented. The object of the exercise is to open up my mind and produce a forecast that isn’t simply the extrapolation of current trends (the basis of most other business plans).
Along with some vital issues – including whether there will still be a need for key cutting, watch repairs and passport photos – I will also speculate on what might happen to shopping. There will always be some other service providers who can’t trade from a website (you can’t get your hair cut or drink a cup of coffee online), so will we be simply surrounded by barbers, nail bars and Greggs? Or will shopping continue to be a leisure activity, with physical displays, changing rooms and personal service attracting customers into supermarkets, shopping malls and town centres? I forecast that plenty of shopping will be done in town centres for the next 50 years and beyond, but there will be a lot of changes – fewer shops, but many brand-new retailers with a unique customer appeal and true personal service. There will be more community facilities (medical centres, gyms, restaurants and theatres), more houses in the centre of town and enough parking to compete with out-of-town retail parks. There will also be more places to meet, including cafes, social clubs, sports facilities, lecture halls and youth zones. Town centres will become a social hub for their local community.
Future retailing isn’t a straight choice between the internet and the high street. The winners will be those who use both to make the most of their brand. Perhaps the biggest retail opportunity is for established online brands to expand by opening their own shops. Every so often, a brandnew concept captures the imagination.
It happened with Biba, Next and Topshop. These were all stores that created retail theatre, and it will happen again. If the runaway internet success, Pretty little thing, was to open the store of the future, our young generation would discover the fun of spending a day out shopping.