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Loading...By Dan Whytock
It has been a long and difficult few years for the UK high street. We’ve seen many shops closing and the loss of many big-name brands, and there may be more to come.
Struggling retailers, including Marks and Spencer and Debenhams, have reported disappointing sales figures over the 2018 Christmas period.
The Internet is often seen as the ‘problem’ – particularly as more customers order goods from the comfort of their own homes and the all important footfall decreases. But, this is due to a lack of understanding of how digital works in the retail environment.
Instead, we should be asking if the Internet can be used to breathe new life into high streets and save established brands, as well as champion smaller, independent retailers. This mix is the life-blood of the high street and every UK shopping street needs to contain both.
The failure of a previous government high street initiative spearheaded by Mary Portas was mainly down to the fact that it did not have a clear and significant digital plan. Understanding the reasons why customers have, and will continue, to choose to shop online, and how bricks and mortar still play a role in the shopping experience, is the key to creating a strategy that gives customers the best of all worlds.
Understanding E-Commerce
People choose e-commerce for choice and convenience. Even when they do decide to step out onto the high street, many will have done their research online first. They like to know what shops are available locally and whether they will be able to find what they are looking for.
Click and collect buying is increasingly popular; over half of shoppers preferred in store click-collect to make a quick purchase without paying extra delivery charges, or having to wait in for a courier, as reported by an E-Commerce Foundation study on UK E-commerce in 2018.
Yet, despite this, almost half of UK independent retailers still do not have a selling presence online. When it comes to the successful adoption of e-commerce, these retailers face three main challenges; time, cost, and know-how. Their expertise is finding great products and creating a compelling buying experience – not building websites and online shopping carts. To overcome these challenges, they need to find a solution that is low cost and low risk, and which is technologically simple and comes with access to expert support needed, if needed.
High street retailers must not ignore e-commerce – it’s here to stay and will continue to dominate, though there are signs of a return to physical high street shopping.
According to the same E-Commerce Foundation study, 93% of online consumers stated they also shop in physical stores, compared to 90% in 2016. 82% of Generation Y are omni-channel shoppers. It seems more people are beginning to realise the limitations of online shopping, and the importance of face-to-face interactions in their daily lives. These interactions can be part of a great buying experience – a friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful salesperson can help you feel great about a purchase.
Ethical and environmental concerns are also beginning to drive consumers to change their shopping habits both online and off; ‘near me’ searches have doubled year-on-year since 2015. This suggests that people are beginning to seek out more locally produced and sold items. Consumers online are also still very loyal to local UK based sellers, with 93% of online purchases in 2017 by UK dwellers coming from UK sellers compared to 31% from EU countries.
How High Street Retailers Can Harness the Internet in 2019
1. Find a Niche Online
A strong online presence can help to boost visits to the high street by giving consumers the ability to search by location for particular products, and the option of click and collect.
For many sellers, the likes of Amazon and eBay have opened up a new revenue stream. However, smaller bricks and mortar boutique retailers are likely to get lost amongst the sprawling marketplace that includes online-only sellers selling thousands of products. Using specialised online marketplaces such as Etsy can help smaller sellers stand out from the crowd and are more cost-effective for smaller budgets. Another niche marketplace is DownYourHighStreet.com, which focuses specifically on independent bricks and mortar retailers, allowing retailers to create or integrate existing product inventories quickly with easily. The site also offers extra-traffic activities such as discounted Google advertising to attract a wider audience.
2. Enhance Bricks and Mortar Service for the Digital Age
A positive in-store experience that promotes and integrates its digital channels well will encourage customers to seek that retailer out for their next online purchase. Looking at larger retailers such as John Lewis and Apple Stores, they use their shops more like showrooms, providing customers with the opportunity to touch, feel and try out their products, and extra customer service offerings such as technical support, personal shopping and home design services. Smaller independent retailers can easily adopt this approach and provide customers with expertise-focused extras that support and enhance the online shopping experience.
3. Use Online Data to Understand Customers Better
Data also plays a big part in a co-supportive omni-channel strategy. What you learn about your online sales will help you to tailor store experiences towards your customers’ profile and preferences. Websites, e-commerce channels and social media are not just opportunities to promote to a wider audience, they are a means to interact and study the shopping and buying behaviours of customers to help tailor both in-store service and online offering. Social media in particular is the most cost effective way to conduct valuable market research and behaviour studies. It allows retailers to analyse page analytics and activity patterns, the types of posts followers respond to, conduct polls on customer likes and dislikes, and also keep an eye on the competition.
Digital doesn’t mean the abandoning of traditional shopping. Rather it can assist high street retailers in strengthening relationships with their customers. Importantly this doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Access to e-commerce is becoming easier and more affordable and this in turn means that our high streets can become bustling and thriving again.
Dan Whytock is Managing Director of DownYourHighStreet.com – a free to join, low commission online marketplace on a mission to save the UK’s high streets. DownYourHighStreet.com hosts millions of products that were previously unavailable online, with seamless managed services for UK independent high street shops, allowing sellers to create or integrate their online presence easily and seamlessly with total service support, saving retailers on time and costs traditionally associated with establishing a visible online presence.
Citations:
1. Inflation at 2.4% means they are expected to be hit by a £186m increase in business rates
2. The Royal Mail 2017 Research on Online Marketplaces found…
3. According to an E-Commerce Foundation report on UK E-commerce in 2018…
5. Near me searches have doubled year-on-year since 2015 (Full data Crunchbase and Google trends)
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