Diagnosis retail

3 Oct 2010, 17:45 Add Comment

I recently attended a Cheshire Chamber of Commerce do featuring retail consultant Bill Smith. He'd spent a day with ten south Manchester retailers, offering them sales and marketing advice and culminating in him presenting his thoughts the same evening.

Unsurprisingly, the presentation proved a relatively predictable amalgam of common sense for businesses too involved in keeping their heads above water to notice their mistakes: windows plastered with ill-conceived 'sales' messages; restaurants you wouldn't know were there, let alone what they served; poorly conceived shop layouts; product and service offerings not meeting expectations set by their associated websites - I could go on.

Presented the way it was, it was easy to spot their blunders, but he also offered insight into less obvious considerations, like exploiting the direction in which people naturally navigate retail space. (For those who don't know, it's clockwise apparently.)

Despite his straightforward advice, the retailers were clearly indebted for cost-effective and easy-to-implement recommendations that will prove invaluable. This is key. Many of Bill's suggestions were simple and often free, with benefits far outweighing any time and energy involved in getting there. The rub comes in retailers being encouraged to step back, as well as having someone to point them in the right direction.

Recent statistics from the Local Data Company highlight the region's poor performance in retail unit vacancies, with Altrincham topping the unfortunate chart. Whether the figures are 100% accurate or not, they bring into focus a problem that's difficult to ignore. Advice from people like Bill doesn't provide the antidote to some of the things that corrode a town's retail offering, but access to support like his could prove crucial for businesses willing to fight for their survival.

So, it's a pity this kind of grass roots help isn't more readily available. Imminent VAT rises and fierce competition from the multi-channel retail environment means retailers need as much help as they can get and why not? Their profitability helps define the success of destinations; they're vital and intrinsic to the attraction of places, particularly our regional towns.

Even landlords should feel increasingly obliged to assist. Letting space and helping tenants do business better is a much finer solution for all involved. Shouldn't free retail and business consultancy be considered just as an important incentive as the conventional and convenient concessions? A philanthropic approach to facilitating such support would prove more beneficial to a landlord than not, surely.

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