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I can't help but agree that national retailers are creating a race to the bottom. Free postage and free returns and constant discounting. How can that be sustainable? Certainly, it is destroying independent retailers that don't have deep pockets. You may say well that is basic economics and market forces will drive out under performance. Yes true. But we have to question whether the tactics of national retailers is actually evidence of doing things well or simply desperate tactics (a huge gamble if you like) to survive. We also have to question whether this is good for society and our communities.
Extract above
'The statement added, “The current backdrop of economic uncertainty across many of our major markets together with a weakening in consumer confidence has led to the weakest growth in online clothing sales in recent years.”'
They always blame the economy or external forces never themselves. They all got carried away with the word sales, they must have known selling items for virtually what you have paid for them is a recipe for disaster, however November 2018 is only one month, an important month but only one month, all of a sudden it has become the benchmark, me thinks not.
I honestly believe the high street/retail park still holds all of the cards, whenever i want to purchase an item I always go there first, because i can see a product, touch it, review it in my mind, where the high street falls down i believe is on the range, they never have what you want, but on the net you can always find what you want, going forward there is talk of hybrid stores, you can have a look of whats in their store, but also whats on their website to hopefully plug any requirement gaps.
And just for the record the last fishing rod i purchased was on line.
“Where we are today, most retailers ….. they don’t understand what choice means to their core customers, they’ve sacrificed the engagement with their core customers in chasing their peripheral customers.”
And here we have the key issue. Endless retailers chasing the "young" pound, coupled with thinking that they can consistently get away with selling cheap, poorly sized tat.
Couple that with the issue where customers are now dubious of when to purchase from these places in the run up to Christmas (or any time of year for that matter) because they don't know if the next week it'll have 50% slashed off it, and are we surprised in the slightest that (predominantly) clothing retailers are struggling?
There is far too much choice now for retailers to think that they can do this and retain customers.
When I see a high street store promoting discounts or offers, I no longer see it as a genuine sale, but a way for retailers to dispose old stock or out-of-season clothes. I agree with Andrew's comment, the economic is often blamed for poor sales. If economic downturn or Brexit is to blame, how can we explain the fast growth of Gymshark and Boohoo? Should ASOS have a management shakeup to boost them to the next stage of growth?