Independent Retailers Set For A Jolly Christmas

Online retail is booming ..... at the expense of customers shopping in town centres, which is, in turn, endangering our independent retailers. The independents’ real retail saviour may well come in the form of the online marketplace StreetHub.

The independent retailers in any town or city are what gives that place an identity… and protects against the scourge of “cloned” towns where any High Street is cluttered with the same chain stores brand names only.

For anyone in the retail sector, the crucial “make or break” period is coming up from now until the end of December. The importance of Christmas is such that retailers will make more than half of their sales and profits in this period. In the UK total spend during this period rose by 2.2% year on year from 2013 (source: Centre for Retail Research). Whilst ostensibly this figure seems to be good news, it is of more concern that online retail accounted for almost a quarter of that – i.e. total store retail spend actually saw a negative growth, with the online and multichannel retailers such as Tesco and Argos, grabbing a larger market share of total customer spend last year.

The StreetHub app helps shoppers track down local homeware and fashion stores online. It has just secured £1.7m of funding from technology investors Octopus, Index and Playfair Capital which will help develop StreetHub’s new website, “Trouva”.

So StreetHub can address this challenge as it offers independent retailers an opportunity to promote and sell their goods nationally and abroad too, and dependent

on location, can include a 1 hour click and collect service as the icing on the cake!

Conventional retailing still has a part to play, however because unless business owners are prepared to consider how technology can help them grow and reach a far wider audience, our High Streets of the future, will become more and more cloned, we will all have a lot less choice around quality, unique goods and many livelihoods lost. Finally, who wouldn’t prefer a unique Christmas gift under the tree rather than something you probably bought for your Aunt Vera too??​​​

Zoe Griffiths Consultancy Ltd has had extensive experience in town centre management strategy and planning. Get in touch to see we can help your retail business in the town centre survive and thrive or simply to give your views on this article! Call on 07771 917093 or visit www.zoegriffithsconsultancy.com