This week has seen retail expert Mary Portas has set out her vision for Britain’s high streets, detailing 28 recommendations to improve the UK’s town centres and update the retail business model to bring it into the 21st century. In response, Anton Gething, Co-founder & Product Director at nToklo, argues that for the high street to succeed, retailers must better integrate their customer experience across all channels, whether in-store, online of on mobile.
I agree that the high street business model is outdated, but there is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution for all retailers to succeed in the multi-channel commerce ecosystem we exist in today.
The advent of online retailing, whether on the Internet, mobile or through social media, has opened a huge market for many retailers. However, there still exists a disconnect between the brick and mortar stores and the online world, which has yet to be successfully bridged.
It is not as simple as finding a way for physical retail outlets to exist, but about better integration of all the customer engagement channels.
While there is much discussion of the death of the high street in recent years, ultimately, people want to touch and see things and this is borne out by the growth of Apple’s retail outlets across the UK, for example.
This Christmas has also seen eBay trial a physical store in central London and arguably most interesting is the House of Fraser store in Aberdeen that that has no products, simply free coffee and assistants with iPads.
There are still tough times ahead for many town centres across the UK and how the nut is cracked is not quite clear, but better integration between online and offline is a must if retailers are to succeed.
By Anton Gething
Co-founder and Product Director
nToklo
www.ntoklo.com/