Round table: There’s a retail race going on – but who will win?

As applied futurist Tom Cheesewright pointed out in his introduction to this event, consumers are changing the way that retailers offer their products beyond all recognition. “They want a more premium experience,” said Cheesewright. But how close is that – and does it apply across the entire High Street? Our latest round table, in conjunction with Freeths, discussed the future of retail.

What are the specific challenges facing the High Street at the moment?
Jo Tallack: “It can be hard to keep up as we don’t know what the future will look like. What we do know is that shoppers are looking for an experience when the enter our centre. There is a lot less focus on spending now, and it’s all about showcasing products that they may go home and buy online.

“We’ve seen lately that some of the big retailers might have a strong brand, but they don’t have the agility to respond to changing consumer needs. They need to do something different.”

Sam Gavin, Tom Cheesewright, Ben Whitaker

Jonathan Fearn: Product is key for us; we need to have the right product at the right value – but we also need to give out customers that multi-channel experience. Retail businesses that look after their infrastructure well will continue to thrive.

Jason Harmer: We’ve tried to modernise across our stores, but everything we’ve tried to do has hit a brick wall by customers. It’s important that we don’t forget what our customers want and I’m often in trepidation of going full-throttle into the future, but our next step will be a multi-channel offer.

Ben Whitaker: It’s interesting to watch how different organisations pivot. I’m concerned when I see how much emphasis some retailers put on their front end of their set-up and simply forget about how much cash they have tied up, and how much they’re losing, at the back-end in the stock room.

Jo Tallack speaking as Jason Harmer of TJ Hughes and Jonathan Fearn of Shoe Zone listen in

Kevin Carrick: We’re seeing that retailers are looking to sell stock through their stores a lot quicker. Shoppers are now buying in many different ways – in-store, on-line and using mobile apps. This is good news for the customer, but challenging for retailers who have been grappling with the challenge of integrating data collected in a myriad of different IT systems, into a real time 360-degree view of their customer without the need for underlying system changes or complicated manual processes to integrate, merge and de-duplicate data.

Sam Gavin: There’s no denying that the retail sector faces a variety of threats. The rise of e-commerce presents a very real threat to the bricks and mortar retail outlets we are used to. A lack of understanding of what the consumer wants and needs has caused there to be a lack of individuality in town centres, meaning the motivation to attend a high street, shopping centre or retail park has eroded. Earlier this month, we saw that high street footfall had declined for the third consecutive month, with high street attendance down by 2.3% in the figures filed in October.

Simon Baigent: Consumers wants a lack of friction when it comes to making purchases and there’s been a change in culture in the sector from purely transaction to a more relationship-driven agenda. I think that in the future we’ll see a lot more independent stores – indeed we’re already seeing this happen – where customers want a more personal experience when shopping.”

Lisa Gilligan: Some retailers at the lower end of the price point certainly don’t make shopping ‘an experience’. I’d like to know where the will is from these brands to make their customers feel more comfortable when, for example, they’re returning goods.

Alan Pearson, Ben Tebbutt and Kevin Carrick

Are landlords doing enough to to help retailers?

Ben Tebbutt: Well, we get everyone’s opinion! It’s very tight for landlords. There’s no doubt that they could do more, but at the same time they have assets to protect. However, there are retailers that can’t afford rents out there – we’ve seen that recently.

Alan Pearson: It’s been an interesting 5-10 years. There has been a lot of tenants drumming down rents but when operators make stores great destination venues then we’ve seen that people are more than willing to spend money. It’ll be interesting to see how the bigger stores take this on board going forward.

Harmer: We’ve been getting much better deals on rent because of the overall state of the High Street, but I think other brands are beginning to find it more and more expensive to keep stores open. One thing I do know is that if there’s a retail race going on – I’m going to win it. There are people out there will still spend money in-store.

Pearson: We have an advantage over the likes of House of Fraser and Debenhams in the fact that all we require is a 5,000 sq ft unit, roughly in the shape on envelope – but how are these big department stores going to remodel themselves on the High Street. We’re in a very strong bargaining position.

Tom Cheesewright: There was a big shift in attitude between 2000 and 2010. Retailers have always closed stores, but this time around it happened a lot quicker because of the financial crisis. It won’t be it’s undoing, but it’s undoubtedly changing the High Street.

What will the High Street look like in 20 years’ time?
Tallack: It will be very different. People will come into city centres for so much more than simply to shop. We know that because the High Street looks so much different now than it did a decade ago. But I think people will always want to go out and buy product. The High Street is here for keeps.

Panel:
Jason Harmer, TJ Hughes
Alan Pearson, FHP
Jo Tallack, Highcross Leicester
Kevin Carrick, Data Clarity
Jonathan Fearn, Shoe Zone
Sam Metcalf, TheBusinessDesk.com
Lisa Giligan, Freeths
Tom Cheesewright, renowned futurist
Ben Tebbutt, Box Property
Simon Baigent, Freeths
Sam Gavin, Grayling
Ben Whitaker, B-Stock