As we get closer to the end of the first half of the year, high street retailers will be hoping that this Q2 shows a marked improvement in sales compared to the first quarter. The run-up to Christmas 2018 was not the magical time of the year high street retailers hoped for and research from published in April paints an equally bleak picture.
According to PwC research compiled by the Local Data Company, 16 stores are closing per day on our high streets and only nine are opening in to make up for them. Things are on a downward trend with the number of daily openings at almost half the level it was five years ago. On the 500 most popular shopping streets in the UK, there was a net loss of 2,481 stores, taking into consideration that there were 3,372 openings and 5,833 closures. In addition, the number of store opening by chains has decreased by 17.4% in year-on-year.
Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said of the findings: “In 2018 we saw an acceleration in footfall decline on the high street with businesses continuing to see the impact of online shopping, increasing costs and subdued consumer spending.”
Can data be utilised to improve and even turn around this sorry state of high street shopping affairs? Perhaps. According to three experts, this can happen if physical retailers make of the most of the advantage they have over online-only retailers. That advantage is a physical space in which to analyse, connect and communicate with customers IRL (in real life).
The view of Jean-Pierre Van Tiel, chief operating officer at DPL, a customer analytics and technology company, is that the retail environment could do with a little bit of pizzazz with high street shops at the moment being a bit underwhelming.
"Retail is lacking ’theatre’ and an engaging experience."
He said this is because they are cutting corners to compete at the same price level as the online retailers which is putting off the customers. This is leading to a lacklustre experience for the shopper who may have wanted to interact with the product and/or with a salesperson about the product. He said: “Today, retail is lacking what I call ‘retail theatre’ and an engaging experience in store.” He said that retailers can create that experience which online pure players cannot and data can help them do that.
Van Tiel said that there is now technology available that uses data and analytics and by adding behavioural analytics, allows retailers to take a picture of a customer walking into a store. From that image, the salesperson is then given, almost instantaneously, the support and information to know the best approach to take with that individual, as well as information on the volume and nature of their past purchases.
Thank you for your input
Thank you for your feedback
DataIQ is a trading name of IQ Data Group Limited
10 York Road, London, SE1 7ND
Phone: +44 020 3821 5665
Registered in England: 9900834
Copyright © IQ Data Group Limited 2024