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Green shoots in retailing

10th Jun 2013
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Despite stories of numerous retail casualties, the High Street is not dead and there are good reasons to be optimistic.

We are all aware how shopping habits have changed with more people using on-line options but the fact remains that last year we spent more than £311bn shopping - 90% of that money was spent in actual shops and stores.

Many shoppers still enjoy the whole experience of trying on, touching, feeling before making a purchase (not me I’m afraid – shoes are black or brown and in my size – job done!).

Screwfix is unusual. It does a good level of on-line trade having started life as a catalogue business in 1979. It recognises the value of having a physical presence on the High Street, having opened its first store just eight years ago. Many of its customers are contractors and tradesmen and demand the immediacy of buying over the counter. It has since been opening a new store almost every week and will be celebrating the launch of its 300th store this year.

Successful retailers, like any other business managers, are sensitive to the changing demands of their customers. So when Tesco recently announced a 14.5% fall in underlying full-year profits, boss Philip Clarke said that "growth in future will be multichannel - a combination of big stores, local convenience stores and online" – a clear case of reacting to customer demands. 

And competitor, Morrisons, which has previously been criticised for being slow to change, has agreed to launch an online grocery service by January 2014.

But despite all this positive news there will still be retailers who feel trapped in struggling businesses and the sooner they take professional advice the better their chances of survival. 

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