i've read so many articles and comments recently about the imminent demise of the high street, that if i hadn't got the wit and the gumption, i'd chuck it all in and go back to being a corporate slave. my word, there are some negative people out there.
well, i don't believe it. in fact, i can see a much brighter future for britain's high streets and it's good for communities, good for shoppers, good for business and good for the country's dire economic status. in fact it's so good that the CEO of a global managed services corporation agrees with me and says it could lead to an economic and social revolution in the UK!
unfortunately, i can't name this CEO as he's currently in discussion with my highstreet heros, Totally Locally but here's the gist of it.
there is no doubt that internet shopping and increasingly, mobile shopping, are taking channel share from the highstreet. big and small chains are folding alike and we've certainly got a retail recession on our hands too. however, in the midst of that, Funky Rascal is growing. both in-store and online. How?
Because we're different and because we care. The attention we pay to our customers and their children in the shop means they feel special. When was the last time you felt special in Tesco?
Secondly, because we don't try to compete with Tesco or Primark or any other big box retailer. We're different, we have quality clothes, designed by people who care to be sold by people who care too. And this gets to the nub of the optimism.
It's not independent retailers who should be afraid of the rise of the supermarkets. It's the highstreet chains who aren't moving at lightening speed to adopt the behaviours and characteristics of their more nimble, independent counterparts.
And there will be more and more who fail as the big box retailers expand their soulless carparks on the edges of towns. And here's the optimism. Through schemes like Totally Locally, local people are rediscovering the hidden gems in their neighbourhoods. They're thinking more about what matters and they're beginning to appreciate that not everything you can buy at supermarkets is necessarily what you really want.
The highstreets will be repopulated with shops that deliver different products and fabulous customers service. They'll begin to mutate away from the generic set of shops we've come to know over the past 2 or 3 decades to something last seen probably 30 or more years ago.
That CEO of the multi-billion dollar corporation believes it and when I heard that, I realised that was what I'd envisaged for our little business and how I see a town like Cupar evolving.
Putting the rose-tinted spectacles away, it'll not happen tomorrow and it'll take a phenomenal amount of work. But both those phrases could apply if I was working for NCR and how much satisfaction would that give me, compared to doing it for myself, my family, my community and for the greater good overall? No competition, is there?
The future's bright, the future's independent...
well, i don't believe it. in fact, i can see a much brighter future for britain's high streets and it's good for communities, good for shoppers, good for business and good for the country's dire economic status. in fact it's so good that the CEO of a global managed services corporation agrees with me and says it could lead to an economic and social revolution in the UK!
unfortunately, i can't name this CEO as he's currently in discussion with my highstreet heros, Totally Locally but here's the gist of it.
there is no doubt that internet shopping and increasingly, mobile shopping, are taking channel share from the highstreet. big and small chains are folding alike and we've certainly got a retail recession on our hands too. however, in the midst of that, Funky Rascal is growing. both in-store and online. How?
Because we're different and because we care. The attention we pay to our customers and their children in the shop means they feel special. When was the last time you felt special in Tesco?
Secondly, because we don't try to compete with Tesco or Primark or any other big box retailer. We're different, we have quality clothes, designed by people who care to be sold by people who care too. And this gets to the nub of the optimism.
It's not independent retailers who should be afraid of the rise of the supermarkets. It's the highstreet chains who aren't moving at lightening speed to adopt the behaviours and characteristics of their more nimble, independent counterparts.
And there will be more and more who fail as the big box retailers expand their soulless carparks on the edges of towns. And here's the optimism. Through schemes like Totally Locally, local people are rediscovering the hidden gems in their neighbourhoods. They're thinking more about what matters and they're beginning to appreciate that not everything you can buy at supermarkets is necessarily what you really want.
The highstreets will be repopulated with shops that deliver different products and fabulous customers service. They'll begin to mutate away from the generic set of shops we've come to know over the past 2 or 3 decades to something last seen probably 30 or more years ago.
That CEO of the multi-billion dollar corporation believes it and when I heard that, I realised that was what I'd envisaged for our little business and how I see a town like Cupar evolving.
Putting the rose-tinted spectacles away, it'll not happen tomorrow and it'll take a phenomenal amount of work. But both those phrases could apply if I was working for NCR and how much satisfaction would that give me, compared to doing it for myself, my family, my community and for the greater good overall? No competition, is there?
The future's bright, the future's independent...
