2. Fast forward to 2016 and we have sadly witnessed the rather undignified
demise of British institution BHS, signaling that even the big names on the
high street are at risk if they do not adapt to the needs of today’s
shoppers. Indeed, the images splashed throughout the media over the
August bank holiday weekend showed the last BHS stores closing their
doors for good after customers picked through the few items that
remained on the sparse shelves. These images were sad on many levels,
not least for the staff who found themselves out of a job, but also the tired
interiors and fixtures told a tale of a store that had failed to keep up with a
rapidly changing retail landscape.
Dated décor, no specialism and not even the cheapest option on the high
street, BHS, like Woolworths that fell before it in 2009, had been struggling
to remain relevant in this competitive environment. It is a further example
of why it is more important than ever for retailers to move with the times
and embrace new ways of operating in order to survive.
For better or worse, the years following the 2008 global
credit crunch have had an exponential effect on the
retail landscape as we know it. Those who managed to
weather the storm of recession were then hit with the
added challenge of the rapidly evolving digital landscape
and the rise of online shopping.
Doing business against a digital backdrop doesn’t
mean that retailers have to abandon bricks and
mortar in favour of e-commerce. Nor is it about
providing the most technologically impressive retail
space on the high street; it is in fact about putting
in place simple practices that appeal to the nature
and behaviour of the modern shopper.
3. The habits of modern shoppers mean that an omni-channel offering is more important than ever for
retailers. We have been hearing about omni-channel for some time, but the emphasis is now based on
connecting the online with the offline experience. Many retailers offer great online experiences without
paying the same attention in-store, something that has negatively impacted the bottom line as a result.
This means that an increasing number of retailers have started to spend some serious time and money
on getting this offering right. An example of this is the implementation of the role of Head of Omni-
Channel within some retail businesses, whose role it is to ensure the seamless experience of the
customer journey through the different channels available, whether that's online search, social media,
face-to-face or over the phone.
We are also seeing omni-channel become more accessible to smaller retailers, who until recently, were
unable to partake due to budget constraints. Now, platforms such as Shopify have enabled smaller
retailers to move into the omni-channel arena.
Don't be fooled by the news that supermarkets are putting a stop to 24-hour opening times; shopping
is still very much a round-the-clock endeavour. Savvy retailers are adapting their models with the
understanding that opening hours have done little to define a shopping experience for a number of
years and will have even less relevance in the future.
We are now shopping at all hours, whether it's a quick browse on a smartphone during a lunch hour
or after a night out. Round-the-clock shopping goes further than simply paving the way for
convenient delivery and collection methods as we can learn from the below examples.
4. Another positive symptom of round-the-clock shopping is the
change is has presented in shopper's attitudes to purchasing.
We are now so used to anything we want being a click away
that we don't want to have to search too hard or be told that
we have to wait for something to arrive back into stock.
If the item that shoppers are looking for isn't in stock at the
first or even second retailer they look at, either on-line or in
person, they are likely to pay more for the item in order to
have it right then. This signals great news for some retailers
who have struggled to keep up with price wars that defined
the immediate years following the credit crunch. By simply
possessing a healthy inventory of stock they know customers
are in the market for, retailers have more options available to
them rather than just undercutting competitors in order to
boast the cheapest price on the market.
All in all, the future for retail doesn’t equal robot cashiers and
the end of the high street, it’s simply continuing to provide
the ultimate convenience for customers. When looking back
over the history of retail, the aim has always been
convenience for the customer, from the emergence of
department stores in the early 1900s to the supermarkets of
the 1970s, only now it is digital that is the driving force for
change today.
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