Monthly Archives: March 2012

Government backs Portas high street plans

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Government backs Portas high street plans

The government has today confirmed that it is accepting the vast majority of the recommendations made by Mary Portas last December on how to revive the British high street.

Many proposals made by the TV personality & PR professional, such as providing business rates discounts to small businesses, extending opening hours & clearing up dilapidated areas, cutting red-tape for high street traders, and reducing parking charges have been fully supported by the government.

In addition to the existing recommendations, Housing & Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has also announced that a number of new initiatives will be launched to help revive struggling town centres.

A £10 million High Street Innovation Fund will be set up to help bring empty shops back into use; a £1 million Future High Street X-Fund will be paid in a year’s time to a UK high street which introduces the most creative and effective initiatives; a Nation Market Day, launching a National Markets Fortnight, will be introduced; and a £500,000 fund for Business Improvement Districts is to be created.

Portas Pilots, a scheme whereby town centres from around the country are chosen to trial some of Portas’ ideas, will also be extended after massive interest following the first 12 pilots being launched last month.

Shapps commented: “Today, I’m accepting virtually all of the recommendations from Mary Portas’s review – but I’m also going that one step further, offering a ‘Portas-Plus’ deal, with a range of measures designed to help local people turn their high streets into the beating hearts of their communities once again.

“Mary Portas’s review made crystal clear the stark challenge our high streets face. With Internet shopping and out-of-town centres here to stay, they must offer something new if they are to entice visitors back.”

Although largely supportive of the plans put forward by Portas, there were several significant recommendations made by the star of TV show ‘Mary’s Bottom Line’ which have been rejected by the government.

The official response today stated that any change to business rates, and in particular changing the calculation from being based on the retail price index to the lower consumer price index, will not be considered until at least the end of the government’s deficit reduction agenda.

New large out-of-town developments will not need an ‘exceptional sign-off’ from the Secretary of State to proceed, as Portas had requested, banks will not be forced to sell empty properties which they fail to administer, and developers will not be required to fund local group’s challenging proposed construction.

Several of the key recommendations fall under the responsibility of local authorities rather than central government, but Shapps has said that he and his department fully back the introduction of more free parking in town centres, more concessions on business rates, and plans to allow local groups to have more control over high street ownership.

Martin Blackwell, CEO of the Association of Town Centre Management, said: “We all recognise that the high street in 10 or even five years will be radically different to that we see today.

“This Government’s approach, shown in the response to Mary’s report, is giving local communities the opportunity to shape the future High Street they want to see in their town.”

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By Jon Whiteaker - 10:17AM – Fri 30th March 2012
Retail Gazette

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Pop-up stores provide long-term retail and marketing prospects

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The concept of pop-up retail originated with US fashion designers seeking to showcase new clothing lines. However with consumer spending deteriorating and as suppliers seek to cut the costs of product launches, pop-ups have become a growing phenomenon which have expanded into the Irish retail market. Premium fashion brands such as Hermes, Jimmy Choo, Levi’s and Prada are among those who have used pop-up stores while major international retailers include: Toys R Us who opened approximately 90 outlets in the US in 2009 and The Gap kicked off a 60′s style tour using a school bus as a mobile pop up store.

As retail experts, Insight with Passion work with international brands, as well as supporting local and family run businesses. Click here to arrange a coffee and a chat with our team about supporting your store(s) with the latest trends; be it pop-up shops, outlet stores, rebranding or visual merchandising. 

Pop-up restaurant for the Melbourne food & wine festival – spotted whilst on a retail project in the city earlier this month

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Original Article: My Retail Media, 28/03/12

Your high street needs you!

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It isn’t getting any easier on the high street. This week GAME called in the administrators, the budget last week didn’t offer much support for retailers and a survey last week showed that the number of empty shops in our town centres has reached its highest figure

Through our Retail Clinics and acclaimed seminar on Retail theatre, Insight with Passion has shown we firmly believe we should work together to save the high street. Retailers have to take action now, or they might find it is too late.

The Retail Clinics began with a pilot in Huddersfield last year. This spring and summer they are being rolled out to 9 towns and cities in Yorkshire. They are free, all you need to do as a retailer or someone invested in your local town centre is sign up. Yorkshire is one of the areas worst hit by empty shops and closures which blight our town centres, making them look unloved and uncared for.

Already we have held two events in Bradford and Hull. Businesses, retailers, local residents and local organisations have come together to talk about the challenges they are facing and to discuss solutions.

At IWP we are “can-do” so we are more likely to start presenting solutions and ideas. Retail Theatre is just that and it is a concept you can hear more about at each Retail Clinic.

Retail Theatre’ is an essential tool that has been used by forward thinking retailers to great success – but is still not widely leveraged by the high street. Retail Theatre techniques have been used successfully by Nike, Disney, Harvey Nicholls and more. As far back as 2001, John Lewis gave its Oxford Street store a multimillion pound retail theatre makeover which transformed the sales floor and put it streets ahead of the likes of its rivals, Selfridges.

So what exactly is Retail Theatre? It’s about using a whole range of tools and techniques to stimulate the senses. It’s about tapping into the physical, intellectual and emotional needs of customers to “capture them” to shop longer and to spend more. The concept is nothing new – it dates back hundreds of years to when trades people went from town to town selling their produce in bustling markets – it’s only the tools that have changed with the times.

Right now every retailer wants to be different, to stand out from their competitors. Retail theatre can help give you that edge. It sets your store apart from everyone else by helping you to look different and serve your customers in a different way.  It helps you to become a destination to drive footfall; by holding desirable events and working with partners to attract new customers. Plus, Retail Theatre helps you to tell your brand story by making your unique brand come to life. It helps you to identify what makes your brand unique and ensures that it’s delivered at every customer touch point.

Here are our 5 top tips to get you started:

1 – COMMUNICATE! Take time and invest money into creating inspiring in-store communications – and make sure you communicate the benefits of your products and tell your customers what you offer

2 – STAND OUT! Make your store look different: Attract attention and engage with your customers through visuals – an eye-catching window display or signage will draw people in

3 – INTERACT! Make the store interactive: Give your customers a reason to stay longer by letting them play, interact with and become more informed about your products – if they can touch and feel the items then they are more likely to buy

4 – JOIN TOGETHER! Bring the store to life through events: Host an event in partnership with other local companies who can provide food, drink and entertainment to give your customers another reason to visit you, allowing you to build and strengthen relationships and encourage repeat purchases. It doesn’t need to be costly and it’s a great way of adding information or value to your customers through activities such as demonstrations, etc

5 – SET THE TONE! Make sure your service is delivered by brand ambassadors: Your employees are at the forefront of your business and represent you and your store, so ensure they understand and convey the right messages to your customers.

Sign up for a Retail Clinic near to you. There’s no catch, no price, you won’t be asked any difficult questions to fill in any difficult forms. This programme is part of Insight with Passion’s Access for All which sees us give 20% of our time and resources for community projects. The high street needs help, and we have the skills that might benefit, why wouldn’t we extend a helping hand?

 

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Sweet charity: why second-hand clothes shops are thriving

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Sweet charity: why second-hand clothes shops are thriving

The humble charity shop is succeeding where others fail on the UK high street. Anna-Marie Crowhurst finds out why ‘chazzers’ are bucking the trend.

Something incredible is happening on the UK high street. According to a new report, while a (staggeringly depressing) 14 shops closed every day last year, some retailers managed, magically, to turn a profit. And one such retailer was the humble charity shop. Yep. As the headlines about the miserable state of UK retail continue to mount, charity shops are laughing – and expanding. That’s right, chazzers are kicking major retail ass!

There was a time when charity shops were just a hodge-podge of bric-a-brac, nylon and knitting patterns that no one bothered with. They took over shops abandoned by other retailers, an afterthought of the high street, mainly frequented by elderly women and the odd teenage goth.

Charity shops weren’t particularly cool, but they were the place to go if you wanted to feel the heady rush of scoring Roxy Music’s back catalogue on mint-condition 12in vinyl at only 10p a pop (Egham High Street, 1996) or fork out a trifling £3.99 for a delicious 1950s Bettie Page-esque leopard faux-fur coat (Leytonstone, 2002). Unless you were a vintage obsessive compulsive prepared to riffle through the racks, charity shops weren’t likely to yield too many gems.

British Red CrossBritish Red Cross. Photograph: Peter Langdown Photography_Copyr/British Red Cross

In the last 10 years all that has changed. Not only have the elderly women got wise to the value of “collectables” (curses), there are “retro rails” and rare book racks. The shops now include offshoot high-end specialist boutiques. They’ve had makeovers, laid wood floors, got to grips with the dark arts of “visual merchandising”. They’ve got websites and eBay shops and glamorous charity markets staffed by celebrities. They’ve got media partners. They look just like other shops. It’s not embarrassing to go into a charity shop any more.

Sarah Farquhar is head of retail operations for Oxfam, one of the charities which is leading the pack in the poshing-up stakes. She puts Oxfam’s success down to the increased number and diversity (age- and gender-wise) of their volunteers, as well as the spoils of a consumer boom. “So there’s more stuff!” And Farquhar says moving with the retail times is a no-brainer. “A heritage brand can become outdated if you don’t work hard to make (it) relevant to modern life.”

To this end, Oxfam has forged ahead with savvy media partnerships and initiatives – Farquhar mentions successful hookups with M&S and Sainsbury’s and a newish online eBay-esque site. Oxfam has long realised the importance of smartening up their shops, introducing an uncluttered standardised look back in the 70s.

British Red Cross: Vanity caseBritish Red Cross. Photograph: British Red Cross

Oxfam’s particular success story is the offshoot boutique. Farquhar says boutiques are chosen to fit the communities they are in; it began with the first Oxfam bookshop at Oxford St Giles 25 years ago simply because there was a glut of paperbacks among the dreaming spires. The whole boutique thing, she says, has grown from there. (Oxfam Books is nowthe biggest second-hand book retailer in Europe.)

Oxfam Originals in Manchester is a dedicated vintage store, which sells retro clothes from all over the country to appreciative students. The new snazzy Oxfam Boutiques, meanwhile, barely feel like second-hand shops, let alone charity ones, with their slick interior design and chic monochrome frontages. But, Farquhar is keen to point out, while the boutiques appeal to a new kind of customer, “the standard Oxfam shop is the backbone of what we do”.

The British Red Cross may not have boutiques, but it certainly staked its claim on the high street at the earliest – the first Red Cross shop opened in 1948. New business manager Diana Goss says the charity’s recent forays into specialist vintage branches are led by the interests and skills of their volunteers. “Our vintage and retro shop on Renshaw Street, Liverpool has a girl in her early 20s who runs the vintage section and she’s the one who makes it work.” The Red Cross has also recently opened an inaugural vintage-only branch in Shrewsbury.

I’ve always wondered if charity shops’ “retro rails” are the result of research or wild guesses (judging by the hilarious prices in some of them), but the Red Cross takes it pretty seriously. Goss says field managers are taken on vintage trails to markets like Spitalfields andCamden and prices are set according to “the tolerance of the town”.

Goss says the Red Cross is very aware of the design of its retail spaces, learning from mainstream retailers “without losing the charm or making everything look sterile”. And she defends the particular-to-charity-shops practice of “colour-blocking” when displaying garments. “Ha,” she says. “We get one of everything – and we have to make it look cohesive. Colour-blocking is our take on trying to make merchandising work.”

Retail director of the British Heart Foundation Mike Lucas is unsurprised about the findings of the report. “Yes, we actually opened shops last year… At the end of this financial year we will have opened 30 electrical and 10 standard shops. And we’ve closed very few. Last November, we opened our 700th store.” And the reason for such success? “Everyone likes a bargain when the economy’s tough,” he says simply.

Wendy Mitchell of the Charity Retail Association points out the trend in ethical and environmentally aware shopping could be a factor in chazzers’ success. “As well as contributing more than £200m to UK charities every year, they are environmentally friendly and provide around 17,000 jobs and 180,000 volunteering opportunities nationwide. So people are finding they can support a good cause and find a bargain at the same time.”

But Mitchell believes that while the big names are rolling out boutiques and bookshops, there is still space for the independent, classic style of chazzer. So there’s hope for good old-fashioned bargain-hunting yet.

Find your nearest charity shops on the Charity Retail Association website.

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The Guardian, 28/03/12