A New Retail Experience - The Leisure & Community Led Shopping Environment

There's a shift in retail environments happening and Tesco is leading the way by looking at alternative uses of their huge supermarkets, having discovered that shoppers prefer smaller supermarkets and more frequently shop online they are now left with space to develop in their Extra stores.

Tesco opened their first new concept Extra Store in Watford, one of the biggest stores in their estate, on the 12th August bringing in new shopping and eating experiences. As well as developing the home ware and new look boutique clothing areas Tesco are also set to open family friendly restaurant Giraffe in 12 stores across the Tesco estate, having recently bought the chain for £49 million. Alongside Girraffe Tesco are offering the artisan coffee experience Harris and Hoole within stores and a deli style bakery experience with the Euphorium Bakery, The Bakery Project. They are also looking at offering cookery classes, baby gyms and yoga classes free of charge, and being more community led with some of the uses of space. It's almost like they are becoming the new town centres!

UK Managing Director, Chris Bush commented: 'We’ve spoken a lot about our vision to create compelling retail destinations in our larger stores; places where customers come to spend time and meet their friends and family. Watford is the first store where many of our innovations and ideas have come together and it’s great to see it all under one roof. Watford represents a fundamental change in the way that people are doing their shopping. More and more of our customers are shopping for leisure; they want to browse for clothes, eat a meal or grab a cup of coffee, as well as do their weekly shop. It offers us a glimpse into what stores of the future might look like and we’re really excited to be sharing that with our customers.'

 

 

 

Meanwhile Mary Portas has recently been discussing how retail has to change on the High Street and become more community focused, much in the same vein as Tesco's concept, offering a hub for the community in the empty shops around the retailers. The aim is to keep our town centres alive by attracting shoppers with crèches, health clinics and other service based businesses, as part of her on-going mission to save the High Street.

 

“We have been obsessed with high streets being retail. In the future we know that cannot be the case. I would imagine about 30 per cent needs to be the case,”

“We need a new vision, we need to trial new ideas and we need to give opportunities to new businesses. Those could be businesses that are about well-being, health and sports.” said Mary Portas.

So it looks like the future of retail in bricks and mortar terms has to embrace the community and attract people in for experiences whether that be eating, drinking, socialising, exercising, and accessing services alongside retail environments. An evolution of sorts with Tesco trail blazing the way in reaction to consumer trends and needs.

 

As people move away from the everything under one big brand huge aircraft hanger style supermarkets and frequent independents for the shopping experience, Tesco responds in kind offering a similar experience in-store but with prices that cannot be matched by smaller retailers. Harris and Hoole has for example come under much criticism for masquerading under its original small indie coffee chain roots when actually having since partly been bought out with 49% reportedly now owned by Tesco. It's now out there with the chain being developed within the Tesco Extra stores themselves.

 

 

So as supermarkets invest in smaller convenience stores with new openings they are left with what to do with the larger parts of their estates..and smaller more personal shopping experiences are offered under one roof.

We can only wait and see if shoppers will respond well to these new concept stores, there's certainly been a lot of thought and investment in refurbishment and I do think they will be successful. Whether the High Street will evolve in the way Mary Portas and No. 10 want is another matter, perhaps these new stores will be yet another prohibitor of the revival of the great British High Street.

 

 

 

How Rising Food Prices Will Impact on Retailers

We're already half way through 2013 and have seen some of the expected rise in food prices, however there are more on the way with this year predicted to see the largest hike in the cost of food and grocery items for a long time.

Mark Price has been preparing his Waitrose customers to expect "massive" rises in food prices as has Tesco Boss Philip Clarke, warning of escalating food costs over the next decade and the era of cheap food being over. J Sainsbury are getting involved in government funded research into agricultural practises that will benefit the food industry and invest in more locally grown food with an eye on the longer term future of sustaining a much larger demand for food.

The food price increases currently are environment led with wet weather in the UK and parts of Europe and drought over in the USA, both of which have caused crop failures and difficulties for farmers, seeing UK food inflation increasing. Combined with recent poor harvests globally in large arable growing nations such as Russia and the Ukraine stocks are at an all time low. 

The meat industry has also recently been hit by scandal and retailers are addressing consumer concerns by investing more in UK supply chains, which again has cost implications. Consumer research has indicated however that we would be happy to pay more for meat products if the farmer was the beneficiary.

Longer term the global economy will impact on food prices as the world population keeps growing rapidly and demand outstrips supply. Dietary changes in developing economies and growing middle classes in China and India also impact in pushing up food prices. As Philip Clarke has said Tesco are now competing with global retailers when buying in regions such as South Africa, whereas previously they were the only buyers.  The crude oil and food industry are intrinsically linked as one pushes up the price of another - all of which impacts on living costs for the consumer.

So what does this all mean for our retailers?

As the average family feels the squeeze of rising prices their shopping habits change accordingly. Retailers see less loyalty as people shop around looking for the best bargains, supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl are really benefiting from the recession and attracting shoppers from the big four.

Branded products also suffer as consumers look for the best value for money with unbranded or supermarket own brand products. People have less brand loyalty as they look for the offers and discounts and switch brands accordingly. The use of technology in store allows shoppers to see if they are really getting the best value for money.
 

Part of the reason food prices have been cheap for so long is a mixture of low cost imports and supermarkets pushing down prices in price wars. As the imports are becoming more expensive and production costs increase retailers have no choice but to put up their prices. Co-Operative are already feeling the effect on their food sales, seeing a decrease in profits in the last four trading period.

As prices increase pressures on retailers to make sure that your pound is spent in their store is not a bad thing from a POS and display point of view. More in store promotions need advertising and that means a healthy continued supply of print and display materials.

Retailers will have to work harder to show consumers that they offer the best value for money and that bargains can be had. I think we'll see a lot more of the BOGOF and other multiple type promotions, greater rewards for loyalty cards encouraging shoppers to stick with one supermarket and reap the benefits. Focus on customer care and added value experiences in store will attract shoppers as the likes of John Lewis have proved in their business model.

We are also seeing supermarkets tightening up on their supply chain to find extra savings and increase profits. Closer monitoring of their estates and POS needs to ensure materials are not overproduced and discarded where it is not needed. This is an excellent way to save money and it all starts with site surveys and store audits, which we are completing more of as retailers look at ways to save. A little investment up front can save millions down the line as print supplies are streamlined and more accurate.

Interesting times ahead - there's no doubt the era of cheap food is indeed over and how retailers react to that will probably see some change in the current dynamic of the supermarket giants.

Showrooming And The Retail Revolution

There have been quite a few articles about the modern phenomenon of 'showrooming' recently, but can it really be blamed for the demise of the High Street?

 

Showrooming is where shoppers visit a store to try out the products before looking online for a better price and buying elsewhere.  I think we're all guilty of it, especially when making larger considered purchases such as electrical items.

 

Research by design agency Foolproof found that 24% of people showroomed while Christmas shopping - and 40% of them took their business elsewhere. (BBC News Website)

 

 

 

 

The downfall of High Street brands such as Jessops and Comet have largely been blamed on showrooming and as Jessops went into administration staff hung a sign saying "Jessops Staff would like to thank you for shopping at Amazon". However the High Street brands can compete as Dixons have shown with recent growth in their tablet sales in store.

 

Some stores overseas are now charging showrooming fees for customers wishing to come in and browse. Some speciality brands will be having less stores and more of a showroom type store to combat this trend as more and more sales are driven online.  It is ever more crucial now to be an omni-channel retailer and change the old retail model to suit consumer habits. On the flip side online retailers may well look at opening showrooms on the High Street with online retailers such as ebay opening seasonal pop up shops and Amazon looking into having a High Street presence.

 

Lots of multi channel retailers offer the option of ordering your goods online and picking up in-store  instead of waiting for a delivery, which might be missed. This example of using the bricks and mortar and online retail channels effectively by giving the customer flexibility and a quick turnaround on receiving items. It looks likely that these will be the survivors of the retail revolution that is happening at the moment, driven by technology at our fingertips and economic pressures. 

 

Book shops,  beauty and electrical retailers are the most at risk and retailers are quickly realising that they need to compete and close sales in-store. Some tactics retailers are utilising are offering added value services  and price matching, free wi-fi using technology to encourage customers to use their smart phones in-store, ipad or touch screen points.

 

The trouble is how many UK retailers are already embracing this new way of shopping? Can they compete with so many online retailers offering the same products at excellent prices? Are they ready to change and offer consumers the experience they want?

 

One thing is for sure we have seen some iconic brands fall to the wayside because they were not quick enough to respond and change with customer shopping habits and any retailer that isn't already implementing a showrooming strategy will be at risk of also falling behind and losing its customer base.

 

We are installing more and more interactive information points and display materials designed to encourage customer interaction online and with the brands social media. There are lots of brands getting it right and making sure the in store experience fits with how customers want to shop and we are happy to be working with those brands to ensure that bricks and mortar is still an attractive prospect for consumers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's app you say? Easter fun in-store!

The last couple of years has seen a change in the interactivity of point of sale signage and mobile technology. As companies find their feet with the use of apps, with varying degrees of success, it seems the supermarket chains have really found a way to make it work this Easter.

 

We recently installed Easter floor graphics nationwide across Asda stores which work in conjunction with the Easter themed app aimed at encouraging shoppers and their children in-store.

 

http://your.asda.com/news-and-blogs/meet-the-easter-bunny-at-asda

 

Once the Asda shopper app is downloaded, customers can use it to follow the Easter bunny around the store. At the end shoppers can take pictures of their children, upload it and be eligible to win a £100 prize.

 

 

It's one way to keep the kids happy whilst in-store and certainly will be encouraging plenty of Easter themed sales.

Tesco's have a slightly different take on it and have an online Easter egg hunt using Street View on Google Maps. Thousands of eggs are hidden - find three and win a chocolate prize and then hide some yourself! With golden eggs promising the chance of winning a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2s.

https://www.tescofindtheeggs.com/

 

2013 - A Year of Change for Retail?

We're a month into 2013 and already we have four major chains in administration. There's no doubt harder economic times have an effect on the High Street but I think these stores are also now outdated as consumer shopping habits have changed, preferring online services across all of these industries.

Most of us keep our photographs in digital formats these days and prefer to shop around for the best deals online. Amazon had a booming Christmas, reporting record Christmas takings of £13 billion so it's no surprise the High Street is suffering. Blockbuster Video is also a victim of being pushed out by Amazon owned Lovefilm, as well as other services such as Netflix, allowing films to be streamed online or posted out directly, as is HMV with consumers preferring itunes or other mp3 or mp4 downloads. It's the same for electrical retailers - we may well go in store to have a play and a look at the item we want but we'll still go and see what the best deal we can get online is.

As we embrace the digital age the way we have always shopped will change, and harsh economic environments only serve to make that happen sooner rather than later. There is some hope for the likes of HMV as the music industry doesn't want to see its only high street chain go but it really will be paying lip service to the iconic brand, and likely will see less stores across the UK.

 

With expensive rents and rates the High Street cannot be as competitive with companies that have less overheads and extensive distribution channels. The lack of UK based tax revenue is another issue entirely, however it doesn't seem to have affected Christmas sales figures for certain companies.

 

Retail has seen many changes over the years - consumerism drives that change, whatever the economic climate. For the big brands it's about flagship stores, retail parks, and shopping centres, and of course we have the supermarket dominance which make installations all the more innovative and interesting as we fill larger spaces. I think we'll see the High Street change and shrink as big brands steer towards the above, driving rents down on the High Street and making room for independents and a whole different kind of experience on the High Street.

 

 

The Best Christmas Window Displays 2012

We have completed most of our Christmas installations, the Ruck offices are looking very festive and with the snow coming down this week we can't help but feel in the mood for Christmas!

 

There have been some beautiful Christmas window displays this year. It seems every year they get more imaginative and major stores in London compete for the kudos of unusual and fascinating displays - always fun to install too! Here's a selection of window displays we love to get you in the mood for Christmas!

First stop has to be Harrods who have gone for a Disney theme this year - magical!

 

 

Click  Here To See The Harrods Disney Themed Christmas Window Displays 2012

 

 

The Making of Selfridges Christmas Windows - Installations
 

 

 

 

 

The Delicious Rotating Window Displays at Fortnum & Mason
 

 

 

 

Other Favourites are Hamleys, John Lewis and Liberty London!

 

Well that's got me in the mood for Christmas Shopping!

Looking at Scotland's Retail Performance on St. Andrew's Day!

It's St. Andrew's day today, Scots up and down the land will be sporting kilts, eating haggis and enjoying a wee dram. A nice little boost for retailers as the country celebrates but how has the Scottish retail sector been performing in comparison to the UK as a whole?



Buchanan Galleries, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

With some of the poorest areas in the UK, high unemployment, and large public sector cuts it's not been an easy year for retailers in Scotland as consumer confidence flags. Scotland has the largest public sector employment by population than anywhere else in the UK and facing tough cuts, this seems to be partly to blame. People are just not spending. The last couple of years has seen Scottish retail perform less well that the UK as a whole.

Things have picked up in October with sales up by 1.1% on the same period last year for the UK however it's a different story in Scotland with retail sales down by 2.8% according to the SRC.

Fiona Moriarty, director of the SRC, said: "This really wasn't the result retailers wanted. September's modest sales boost offered some cause for cautious optimism, but continuing concerns about the economy led many customers to batten down the hatches again in October."

It's not a good sign for Christmas trading and quite rightly the SRC and Scottish retailers are worried it is an indication of poor retail sales to come for the Christmas trading period. We do a lot of installations in Scotland for large chains who can carry regional slumps in sales, but the independent shops will be suffering the most. Let's hope the celebrations today raise the spirits and revive the Christmas shopping season for Scotland.

Happy St. Andrew's Day!

St. Andrews Day History & Tradition:

St. Andrew is the Patron Saint of Scotland - his day is celebrated on the 30th November in Scotland and has been an official bank holiday since 2007. It is an official flag day, flying the Scottish flag know as the Saltaire.

The day is celebrated by all things Scottish - lots of food (haggis), music (bagpipes), dancing and concerts (ceilidhs), and parades, fireworks and other various activities which happen all week in the run up to St. Andrews day, as well as church services in honour of St. Andrew.