Latest statistics from the BRC (British Retail Consortium) claim that Retail sales in Central London during August were 11.5% lower on a like-for-like basis, than in August 2004. But putting the panic aside for one moment, what can they do to retain profitability?
Online spending is set to increase by 35 per cent in the next year. However, as the Congestion Charge and environmental factors continue to eat away at high street footfall, it’s alarming to see that the top 100 retailers spent a mere £100m between them on web development last year.
For Retail businesses to stay successful, they must offer appealing alternatives to the branch environment. A recent Gartner survey revealed that 82% of women are willing to shop online. But if customers reach for the mouse how do retailers make this as satisfying as physically shopping? The key is to provide an overall experience that provides convenience, choice and most importantly security.
What’s more, the much-triumphed success of online-only retailers such as figleaves.com and asos.com shows that high street retailers cannot afford to be complacent - competition for the online pound continues to hot up.
High street retailers can steal a march on smaller or online-only retailers by providing an overall experience across all channels, fully integrated between the web and the high street.
Retailers must take web investment seriously if they’re to get their slice of the online pie. It’s about time that they put their money where their mouse is.
The end result is that spend per customer will increase, cancelling out the reduction in footfall.