The era of online retailing has put pressure on the high streets. Diminishing margins, rents, declining
footfall and cost of wages are all factors that tighten the knot on physical store retailers.
We have had a sitdown with our UK Managing Director, Clare Rayner, to get first-hand insight into how high street retailers can tackle the challenges of today. In addition to shedding light on the importance of retail excellence and good communications, Clare gives her best tips on how retailers can improve their business performance.
During the next two weeks we will post the individual sessions of the interview, culminating with Clare's best advice for high street retailers. So stay tuned for expert insights and a piece of advice you don't want to miss.
1. What does a retailer need to focus on in order to deliver retail excellence?
- Retail excellence stems from being obsessively committed to your target customer. There’s no specific formula, but typically excellent retailers put a lot of thought into who their customer is and what they want. They then build their business entirely around the needs and wants of that customer profile, through the products they sell, the services they offer, the promotions they utilize, and the places and channels through which they trade.
2. Just how important is good communication with your customers?
- Good customer communication is essential and it starts before your customers even cross the threshold of the store – through your advertising, social media, website, and windows. The way you communicate your brand and offer set expectations as to the service and experience in the mind of the customer in many ways defines your business. So it is critical that you don’t over-promise and under-deliver.
3. What are the challenges on the high street today?
- There are many challenges on the high street, and the main stream media might have us believing that high streets are dying. Business rates, rents, cost of wages, utilities, parking, declining footfall, opening hours, margin pressures and the internet are all topics that have been cited as contributory to the so-called declining high street. Research and industry insight from various sources however identifies that there are some great success stories out there.
Customers still enjoy visiting high streets, and categories that are doing well include social and experiential offerings (coffee shops, nail shops, hairdressing, leisure etc.) as well as boutique- and independent retailers and service providers. Some of these categories of retailers should take comfort in that they not only offer a service that can’t be delivered online, but that they can also create a boutique environment within their store, thereby benefiting from two of the attributes that consumers are attracted to.
4. What does it take to deliver truly great customer service?
- There's no one answer to this. Great service all comes down to meeting and exceeding the customers’ expectations. A discount retailer who lives up to the “promises” they make to their customers can be perceived as offering better service than a luxury brand who perhaps fails to have items in stock when a customer makes a specific visit to make a purchase. Essentially, and depending on the retailer’s brand positioning, how the customer experience measures up to what was anticipated will be the litmus test of whether a customer believes they’ve had great service or not.
5. What tips would you give a high street retailer keen to improve their retail performance?
- The best advice I can offer to a retailer wanting to improve their performance would be:
• Spend some time analyzing your ideal customer profile, that is, the most profitable customers. Who are they? What are their needs and wants?
• Mindful of the ideal customer, consider how you can attract and retain them. What changes do you need to make across your marketing, ranging, service proposition and retail environment in order to appeal to them?
• Don’t ever get complacent. Keep your attention firmly on your customer and ensure you stay relevant and up to date with their needs and wants.
• Finally, work with your suppliers. Where possible tap in to as many supplier-led deals and promotions as possible, so long as they are a good match for the ideal customer.
