Retail Stars - Blog series

As the busiest period of the year for UK retailers approaches, I’ve been reflecting on what has been working and not from a ‘Front Office’ perspective sitting firmly in the customer’s seat.

From my experience in the retail industry and at PwC, I, along with Oz Ozturk, Victoria Wright, Oliver Havard, Helen Wolstenholme, Jonathan Bartley, Rachael Eve, Ellie Taylor and Jerome D’Costa, will provide insights across eight lenses which are most critical to the customer.  

 What is going on in the UK retail market?

Before getting into the results, I think we need to step back and understand the background that UK retailers are facing currently. To say it is a struggle would be an understatement; you only have to pick up a newspaper any morning and the headlines jump out, store closures hit average of 16 per day for the first half of 2019. Many high profile companies have gone out of business, brands that seemed ‘administration’ proof have fallen by the wayside and most leave us with questions rather than answers to why it has happened.

 Reasons for failure may include:

●      High fixed costs linked to long term rents

●      Once desirable locations are not anymore

●      Bricks & mortar mentality not translating to omni-channel

●      Cannot invest fast enough in new products 

●      Inflexible supply chain with long lead times

●      Wrong inventory and too much

●      Unable to meet competitors’ delivery times   

 These all sound plausible but raise questions on why companies are insular and when in decline look to drastic measures to succeed rather than investing whilst the going is good. The obvious missing candidates to why they are not succeeding is their markets are evolving, what their customers want never stands still and for all the cost cutting et al, how many of them really understand that? There are winners at both the top and bottom of the market. Where there seems to be challenges, are with those who operate in the middle of the market where differentiating themselves becomes even more critical in this space.

 I appreciate that disrupt, innovate and change are lofty words but understanding their importance to the customer and how they engage with the retailer’s brand should be front of mind whether you work in Commercial, Customer Service, Finance, HR, Operations, Procurement or Supply Chain. 

 As we continue to lose these great companies of old, we are seeing the rise of nimble, asset light flexible companies that are able to close the gap quickly with the perceived ‘Leaders’ in their sectors.

 Results:

Looking at retailers’ performances from a number of lenses, I and the other authors of these blogs, will provide examples of companies that we think are getting it right, how they are achieving success and most importantly what can other retailers learn and then apply to their business. We will read about the likes of Zara (who are able to convert a third of online orders into click & collect and therefore creating further traffic to the brand), Next and Selfridges who continue to re-invent themselves to remain relevant but there are some interesting companies who are making significant impact including Lululemon and Books@One which my colleagues will discuss in future blogs.

There isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ but plenty of trial and error, seamlessly being able to offer a consistent experience across omni-channel is high on customers’ wish list. Beyond that is regaining the excitement of shopping, novelty feeling, experiences, caring about our world through sustainability and influencing the conversation. Take the new HMV store in Birmingham, it is too early to comment on whether it can succeed long term but what an amazing start, ticking all the boxes of experience and creating a buzz for a format of retail which we all thought we had seen the end of... long live the dog!

 Over the next 5 weeks, me and the other authors will be sharing more detailed outputs from each lens. The primary goal is to stimulate conversation to help you think about what more retailers can do to capture the hearts and minds of customers while reflecting on the winners and losers this Black Friday.

 Look out for Victoria Wright's blog next week on ‘Community’.

In the meantime, I’d be interested in knowing who your Retail Stars are - join the conversation… #retailstars #whoareyourretailstars