London calling

In the past few days I’ve heard from several different people about the state of the retail landscape in the UK. From retailers themselves to digital specialists and even the queen of UK retail, Mary Portas herself. I’ve seen insane window displays, interacted with screens, designed trainers and even met Jimmy Choo, who coincidently didn’t offer me a pair of shoes but did comment on my legs! Now that’s a compliment any girl will take.



So what’s happening in the UK?

In the past year the UK has seen its worst year for profits. Several iconic high street names have left the retail environment. Brands that have helped shape Britain in the last 20 years like Woolworths making 27 000 people redundant last year when they closed their chains. Zavvi closed down shutting 104 stores and Adams also shut 140 stores. Unemployment is currently around 6% but forecast to exceed 9% by the end of 2009 or 3 Million people.

Whilst that all sounds doom and gloom it seems that people in the UK are now just fed up of being fed up. They know the economy is in the gutter but are no longer stressing about it. A sort of resignation and humour to just get on with it. In fact the recession is being seen as quite a positive thing, it has by default flushed out all the crap, smaller, unsavvy retailers from the market leaving a landscape of serious, clever and edgy brands.



And, they have to work harder. Britons are a cynical, disbelieving lot who see through marketing, don’t like being sold to and expect, not just enjoy, but also expect a lot more from retailers before they’ll spend their money. And retailers here are responding. The whole retail market place is changing globally, customer behaviour has evolved dramatically and retailers really have to adapt to these changes or force being flushed out of the system. Take Abercrombie and Fitch in the US market for example, they refused to react to the recession and customer evolution and look what’s happened to them, GONE!

So what are the key players doing to increase footfall and sales?

We now have a generation of shoppers whose discretionary income is somewhat lower than it once was; yet the big stores are still packed. Why? Because they create a reason for customers to visit. Let’s face it; no one needs another pair of trousers, another t-shirt or pair of trainers. Consumer behaviour is more and more being driven by desire, a desire for product, a desire for an experience and a desire for entertainment. Take Selfridges for example, as part of their 100-year celebrations they have taken the iconic yellow bag (pantone 109) and created a month long event in store entitled ‘Big Yellow’. The entire storefront has creative interpretations of the colour. In addition various brands were asked to create a bespoke item in the colour pantone 109 to show on display in the gallery. Jimmy Choo created a pair of yellow shoes, Louis Vuitton constructed a chandelier from bags, Mac had artists making living yellow mirror balls out of 2 scantily clad male models, book signings occur on level 1, stage shows in the basement plus a whole history of Selfridges through the years. As you can imagine, it was packed. People want a destination to go to, they want theatre, visual stimulus, inspiration and whether they need it or not I can guarantee you they’ll buy something.



I could go on but I’ll save some of those other interesting ways retailers are addressing this shift in future blogs. On to Berlin…