The lights are going out all over Britain’s high streets. Not just for Woolworths, Zavvi and Adams, but several big retail brands have downed their shutters for good or been forced into painful retrenchments. The prolonged consumer boom may have provided a stay of execution for a number of tired and struggling brands, but the recession is fast killing off those whose store environment and retail mix has not been attractive enough for today’s more discerning and penny-wise shopper. In a climate where cash flow is tight, spending down and value for money is the new watchword, so splashing out on flamboyant store refurbishments might seem the last thing any sensible retailer should do.
However, Sir Terence Conran, Habitat founder and veteran style guru, insists the recession will be good for British design. He said the downturn is clearing unimaginative retailers from town centres, and forcing survivors to work harder to pull people into their shops and persuade them to buy their products. “Those businesses that you scratch your head and say – well, why are they there? It does eliminate them, although I’m always sad to see anything go,” he told The Times newspaper recently.
Bernard Dooling, director of design company, 20/20, said that the sector is rightly focusing on basics at the moment, but he laments that in the struggle to survive and provide value for money, much of British retailing is being sucked into a “vanilla-ness” when it comes to store presentation. He commented, “It is rather sad as design for me has always been about how to differentiate. It will be interesting to see if anyone now will be brave or smart enough to lift their heads and pursue an interesting direction.” He singles out Primark and Zara as brands that have kept their product fresh and their outlets appealing, but feels that too many other clothing chains are failing to innovate sufficiently. “The mass market fashion sector is predictable and stores are becoming commoditised as retailers work hard on price, and it can be difficult to peel away the ‘For Sale’ signs,” he added.
One of the key challenges for retailers in the current sluggish market is to use their store environment to get across a value message without letting it swamp other brand values, believes Chris Cleaver, managing director for business brands at brand consultancy Dragon Rouge. He picks out WH Smith as a retailer that may have pushed the price proposition too far. Clever said, “In an effort to communicate value, there is so much messaging going on about price that it can be bewildering and detract from the brand’s ability to communicate its own message. It leads us to think that the only thing about WH Smith is price, which takes away from some of the higher ideas they might wish to express about their brand.”
Cleaver believes that retailers who differentiate themselves with a highly individual store environment continue to give themselves an advantage. Among them is leisure clothing specialist Fat Face. “Their stores are unusual in that they really strive hard to bring the brand story to life,” he said. “If you were put into a Fat Face store, you’d definitely know where you were, which is not true of many other retailers. They have always sought to strike a balance between the brand story they are trying to tell through their store environment and their ranges and the trading story that they are using to drive custom through pricing and other promotional strategies.”
Zara too has set itself apart from the herd, despite the fact that it competes hard with its rivals on price, said Cleaver. “Not only do they maintain freshness of offer by a continual stream of fresh introductions, they also have a policy of maintaining space and not over-merchandising to maintain a feeling of a premium shopping environment, despite their keen pricing,” Clever added.
Robert Hudson, managing director of the National Association of Shopfitters, said that although retailers are pushing for the “best value for every pound that they spend” on their store interiors at the moment, the recession is also pushing innovation. Shoppers more than ever want “exciting experiences”, he said. “The days of pile it high and sell it cheap are behind us. Clients are looking for designs to create an exciting experience for shoppers going through the door. If we don’t do that we end up with the situation Marks & Spencer found itself in a few years ago when its stores looked tired and boring and, as a result, its customers went to other retailers such as Next,” he said.
That failure to move with the times and rest on its reputation was a lesson Marks & Spencer learned. Back in the early 2000s, the retail giant risked going the way of Woolworths, with stores and a product mix that relied on the loyalty of an ageing and shrinking customer base. However, under chairman Sir Stuart Rose, the brand has been revived thanks to a focus on younger women’s fashion and a big store refit programme. In the past three years, 80% of M&S’s estate has been remodelled with new floors, walls and ceilings, easier to navigate aisles and brighter lighting – and the firm says the effort is continuing despite the downbeat mood on the high street.
Despite this, Richard Easton, managing director of Portsmouth based Hadley Shopfitters, warns that with most of the shopfitting industry working on programmes booked well before the recession kicked in, the true effect of high street trading pressures on infrastructure spending might only be felt towards the end of this year. Hadley commented, “We are busy until September but after that it is a case of looking into a crystal ball.” Already retailers are expecting the same for less money and expecting shopfitters to come up with clever new ways of “value engineering”.
Also, Chris Gabb, managing director of Barnwood Shopfitting in Gloucester, said that he is seeing signs of retailers looking to spend smaller amounts on store “refreshes” rather than “full refurbishments”. However, innovative and attractive store environments will remain crucial to retail success, he believes, “Bold companies who invest carefully, with good design and quality shopfitting – providing they have the right offer – will be the ones who stand out and flourish.”