Saving Britain’s High Streets

Retail guru Mary Portas’ report into the declining high street is due this month. Will she present the solutions to halt the decline or will the deluge of emptying shops on our high streets continue to grow?

High streets are a part of our national identity and it would be a sad day if our towns came to resemble the American model in which the small independent shops that made us, ‘a nation of shopkeepers,’ are replaced by online and out of town megaplexes.

I’ve worked with thousands of local shops and companies, helping them to make their businesses as successful as possible, but the first thing I always say to them is, ‘As a business owner, you are 100% responsible for what happens to your business.’ I don’t want this statement to be taken as too harsh, but it’s easy for the grocery store owner to blame the new Sainsbury’s Express for their demise. My message to high street store owners is to think differently, change the attitude, get out of the rut, and accept responsibility. There’s no such thing as victims – only volunteers.

If there are not enough customers coming into a shop then it’s the job of the shop owners to do something different by finding a way to make themselves interesting, enticing and relevant to local people. They must market themselves. Properly.

For instance, most High Street businesses have no system in place to build and nurture a database of their customers and potential customers – and most of those that do have a database never use it. Think about it – when did you ever hear from a local shop?

Our small retailers must find creative ways to retain contact with their customers. Email, text and social media are all powerful tools that most simply don’t utilise. With a database, a  shop owner can keep in touch with their customers and communicate with them – giving them reasons and reminders to come back and spend. Best of all, most of the communication is free – but hardly any High Street retailers do it, because they don’t have a database.

Local shop owners can position their business as one of the best by shouting about accreditations, certificates and showing off all the great testimonials from customers (creating some ‘local celebrities,’ in the process, which can work wonders for a business). Word of mouth is still a powerful force and creating local ambassadors for a shop can transform its fortunes. Involving customers like this strengthens relationships hugely and has a direct impact on level of spend – and profits. But most businesses do nothing in this arena. It’s almost criminal.

And don’t get me started on service. I know some local shops are brilliant but lots aren’t. Too often they’re surly, slow and unwelcoming – and so give away probably their greatest advantage over the big supermarkets.

I commissioned a nationwide survey earlier this year in which a majority of respondents said that the high street was a key part of their local community and over 60% even said that they were willing to boycott supermarkets to help save their high street. The reality of course is different but what is obvious is that there is general support and affection for the high street amongst the British public. Businesses have to tap into that – and if they collaborate and work together, like they have in Ilkley in Yorkshire for instance, then they can make real progress.

But we still have a problem. Whilst it’s true that individual retailers taking responsibility for the fate of their business is critical, the fact remains that central government and local councils can do much more to promote a fertile environment in which the high street can grow and flourish.

I speak with hundreds of local businesses every month – many of them High Street retailers -  and the vast majority are failing to embrace the twenty-first century business basics that have the power to dramatically change their fortunes. What the government could be doing more of is providing advice and access to these practical steps that businesses can implement for success.

There are countless free tools out there, especially on the internet, that most retailers are failing to make use of. The next time the Prime Minister makes a speech on business, I challenge him to talk about Google Places, which is free, takes 10 minutes to register and literally puts local businesses on the front page of Google every day. It’s been around for over 3 years yet over 80% of UK businesses are not taking advantage of it. Bonkers.

Or he could point out that Pay-per-Click advertising is a key tool for any high street business in a niche sector yet the proportion using it is tiny. Fact is there are people looking online today, within a shop’s catchment area, looking for exactly the service that they provide – but the local retailer doesn’t even appear on their screen because they’ve done nothing to embrace these new tools. The internet provides great opportunities for high street shops IF they can be bothered to take advantage of them.

I’m a big fan of Mary Portas – she’s  an exceptionally talented individual, and what she’ll have to provide is definitely NOT a one-size-fits-all solution to the problems faced by high streets up and down the country. There are different issues in different places and I’m sure she recognizes this.

But she can’t do it on her own. Now is the time for all retailers to stand up and be counted. To take responsibility. To recognize that the world is changing and to change with it. To accept that they have a really big say in the future of their shop – and the street that it’s on. To pull together, to work with each other and their local community.  To think differently and, where necessary do different things.

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• http://www.thewholesaleforums.co.uk/ Lace Llanora

  Technology has made competition really tough, especially when shoppers are given bargains that are priced next to nothing by the big players. Add to that, coupons,
  groupons, etc. But I agree with Nigel on how only a tiny proportion of shops
  utilise the power of connectivity. More UK shoppers are online 24/7 via
  smartphones or tablets and engaging on the Internet can provide the additional
  exposure, affordable marketing, and finally – foot traffic to the bricks and
  mortar store.

• http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ Firozali A.Mulla

  Nigel, First thing first are we apes? That was Darwin said, but we do not believe this, then we want more of everything. Malthus said we have less food, we wnat more.how much that no one told us…Wednesday, 16 November 2011   11:27 AM
  What do we have today?  1 Rushdie is scared again?
  2 This from my friend in UK no names for now.
  Osborne wants oil;   I’m so fed up of this idiot government. What planet do they live on? How on earth do they think people can keep handing over money all the time when wages aren’t increasing, people are out of work. They still expect money to be pulled out of nowhere. If the country needs to clear its debts surely that should be priority, its funny how the government plead poverty and enforce cuts one minute, but still have money to fund aid and war in other countries. Its disgraceful! When Labour was in government and fuel cost considerably less than it does now, the Conservative press campaigned against high pump prices and the Conservative voting farmers and hauliers were out blockading our motorways and oil refineries. Cynically now they are in office its oh so different, they’re considering taking fuel duty to its highest ever level, what a bunch of two-faced jokers  do not understand the oil market and refuse to comment on this. If UK etc want to come to African states and get the cane squeezed to get the oil, I have no idea how these small sates will survive or we let them die?  I thank You Britain has been warned by a senior ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel that it would not “get away with” looking after its own interests at the expense of Europe. We have the lady talking to UK politicians. Volker Kauder criticised the coalition Government’s opposition to a financial transaction tax, insisting the UK had responsibility for “making Europe a success”. His comments will ratchet up tensions between London and Berlin ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister David Cameron and Mrs Merkel on Friday. The encampment is gone, but the movement lives on still. What nobody knows is just how long it can survive without a literal place to call home. This land is my land  For Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park was a rallying cry — a symbol of defiance against a government and a society that the protesters wanted to overthrow. But in recent weeks, the park itself unwittingly morphed into a mirror image of the world it was trying to change: a microcosm of society rife with crime, drug problems and fights over things like real estate and access to medical care. I say then of course I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

• clare21

  I literally could not agree more

• Wynford7er

  Agree as well.  Ill-thought out parking “policies” can kill businesses quicker than an economic downturn and were doing so during the credit boom period.  It’s not just about the cost but also about the viciousness of the enforcement.  A parade of shops in my hoe town (a couple of which I like visiting) has privately owned parking in front of it and the inevitable extortionist clampers who will clamp you whilst you purchase your ticket.  I no longer go to the shops there in the car and its well out of my way on foot.  I thought this government was going to stamp it out?  The National Association of Clamping D!ckheads has probably made a large donation to Libcons so that’s that policy shelved?  I hope I’m wrong.

• http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ Firozali A.Mulla

  Thursday, 17 November 2011  2:28:48 PM  Let us read what we have this noon.  Having announced yesterday that it was planning to take up legal action against Occupy London once again, the City of London Corporation has now officially served the camping protesters with eviction notices. According to Sky News (via Twitter) the corporation attached eviction notices to the tents outside St Paul’s cathedral today, as it said it planned to in a statement yesterday. The outlook for the British economy has worsened because of slowing global demand, sagging confidence and turmoil in the eurozone, the Bank of England said Wednesday as new data showed unemployment rising to the highest rate in 15 years. “Britain also carries responsibility for making Europe a success. Only being after their own benefit and refusing to contribute is not the message we’re letting the British get away with.” This  is from Germany???? Tush tush. Germany Tells Britain To Suck It Up And Help The Eurozone. Tush Tuish
  I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA TUSH tush

• WILFRED25

  Retailers are standing up and being counted as in the Keep Scunthorpe Alive Campaign http://www.keepscunthorpealive.co.uk. Independents and Nationals are joining together to campaign against an out of centre proposed development which, if allowed, will decimate the town centre.  There is an ideal place for this development in the town centre but, presumably, one can only assume that the Developer does not stand to gain as much profit from developing in this site. The Campaign has been hugely succesful so far and is gaining strength by the day. This is not a campaign against any of the retailers wanting to locate themselves in Scunthorpe, merely a campaign against the proposed location. KSA have invited Mary Portas to join them twice to understand a little about their Campaign but, to date, has not had a response.