Shop Until You Drop Off - Future Retail Therapy

"Tesco could cut its  development pipeline by almost half over the next three years".
"As the Internet continues to encroach on sales, supermarkets must find a way to make the space they have work for them", so says Rachel Hunter in this weeks Property Week (10/2/12 p60)

"Supermarkets need to become more aspirational. People need a reason to go into stores", Neil Saunders of retail analysts Conlumino.

Blimey!! With even the retail master Tesco beginning to find life on the high street a tad challenging and the Government looking desperately to revitalise local shopping opportunities through Town Planning and the Portas effect, some serious questions have to be asked about whether the traditional retail format is going to survive. 

Well, of course it will, to an extent, for a little while longer. There are innumerable retail offers out there and we cannot survive based on some mega mall delivering to our every conceivable need - can we?

Arguably that is exactly what the Amazon's of this world have become. I have just done a quick search on that website and can order everything from Marmite and matches to caviar and pate de fois gras; even toilet rolls are available. Combine that with eBay and the more specialist online sellers of clothing, books, software, cars etc and one wonders whether there is really any need for a 'shop' at all. Postage is low cost or free, returns are straightforward and with a variety of cashless payment options the whole thing is simplicity itself. And that's in addition to the Tesco Direct's of this world and other online grocery ordering and delivery services. 

Maybe my aged contemporaries will still indulgently browse in a shop because that's what we were brought up on, but will tech savvy and time-poor future generations? Making a living is tough enough and dragging around shops with the kids on a wet saturday morning when it may be better to work, or simply rest and have some family time (having ordered online) certainly has its attractions. I think we are segwaying from a 'see it, want it, buy it now' mentality to a 'see it, want it at a good price and I'm prepared to wait a little for ease of purchase' mode. Not too catchy, but you get my point. 

A clear and present danger for the 'live' retailer is Joe Public turning up to review a product, compare and contrast with the alternatives and then pop online (whether blatently in the shop or back at home) and order at a lower cost. Even Argos must be wondering whether their expensively produced and circulated 'Laminated Book of Dreams' (Bill Bailey) is simply a handy reference guide for a purchase from someone else.

And in the mean time all those costs for rent and rates, staff, heating, lighting, insurances, maintenance, losses through theft, shop soiled wastage, public liability and planning and development ratchet up to an eye-watering amount that has to be reflected in the shop floor price. It's a no-win situation.

The jury is out on the future of retail but in the short term vacant space in stores could be used in a helpful way: as a drop point for online purchases that you can collect when carrying out other shopping. 

I stood in line at the post office for nearly an hour at Christmas, having missed the delivery man's nano-second appearance outside our house - just enough time for him to scrawl on a card with a collection time 24 hours hence. This is where the system falls down, as it cost me time, money and a deal of frustration to collect my online purchases.  

As we all continue to work longer hours there may be no one at home when the delivery man calls and having to make a special trip to collect purchases will frustrate the flexibility of the system. So why not have an option to collect from your local Tesco's (or other such store). Delivery is more straightforward and less costly, being to fewer locations, the retailer can use space effectively and may hope to attract additional purchases at the same time. With a text/email notification of delivery the punter can collect en-route to or from work (or over the extended store times - some up to 24hrs) and if for some reason they cannot make it straight away, they know it is not too challenging to get to on the next shopping trip. Perhaps such purchases can be added to the grocery delivery service to save even that trip.

The internet age is upon us in many ways and whilst the 'High Street' is not destined to evaporate any time soon there are clearly new retail agenda's to consider and adapt too. If you cant beat 'them', then maybe joining them in a limited way could help everyone.