Our interview series in 2017 is with Store Managers that work and live Retail. As a one time retail manager, I can both sympathise and recognise the opportunity that it offers our brave boutiques and established big brands. I wish to offer up useful insights, potential plans and gain some clarity from those on the front line.
When I was in retail (for 10 years) I spent it both on the shop floor and in the buying office, getting to know personally our regular browsers, spenders and the occasional shop-lifter… to this day I am still shocked at the knowledge, 50% of retail theft is staff. Or at least it was in the 1990’s.
What dreams do today’s retailers have, what is their vision for their store or the high-street?
The challenges they face are many, not least the ever changing stock, rota management with the ever increasing opening hours and the head-office demands. Then there’s the decrease in footfall coupled with the increase of click-and-collect and there’s those customers increasingly being socially conscious. They want to know where the product came from, who made it, can the cloth be recycled, reused, how much water was used to make it… will we start to see clothing labels change?
High street retail is undergoing an interesting evolutionary phase, more and more shop-floor space is being given over to coffee shops and bistro’s. In store events are becoming increasingly more common in the form of co-creation (where the customer is involved in passive participation, or configuring a product from a set of choices). Many stores think what we all want is more technology on the high street… are you convinced? It certainly helps the retailer and the tech developers and sales guys offering the solutions, but what of the customer, does she walk into a store with an idea in mind to be faced with yet another screen, or be interrupted by a stock choice reminder sent to her phone as she walks in the door? Or would she rather browse using all of her senses and be gently guided by a well trained member of sales staff?
I recently heard of the optician store that is stocked with vintage books and resembles a library; will we see every shop turn into miniature department stores with a facility to lounge? In the world of bar’s and restaurants it’s been going on for years – the barbershop that has a bar in the back of the shop, Dishoom for example opened their 4th premises in Edinburgh an Indian (tapas type) restaurant with a bar on the ground floor and nightclub in the basement and yet best known for their amazing breakfasts… convoluted or the future? Maybe that’s not specifically retail, there is definitely change in the air.
My recollection of retail was the camaraderie on the shop-floor, it was brilliant; being part of the buying team whilst being near or on the shop-floor at the same time, it meant getting to know who you were buying for. In my eyes those personal touches are what makes shopping on our high streets more pleasurable. The Amazon concept of walking into a store putting products in your bag and walking out, no check-out, no queue: your phone and item GPS determine you, the product and how much to remove from your bank account… it might work for some stores (low value, low footfall), it wouldn’t be my first choice.
I am genuinely more interested in approaches like below – it may be food, however the idea that there is a connection between who makes it and who buys it is profound:
Do you know a Retail Manager that would like to be featured on Social Tailor?