The
one thing that is certain in retailing right now is uncertainty. The ups and
downs, particularly of consumer sentiment, are creating an uncertain business
environment for all retailers, including market Traders. But there are upsides.
It
is difficult to get guarantees on anything to do with trading and certainly the
customers, employees, owners, and suppliers of the likes of Harris Scarfe,
Jeans West, Bardot, and many others, would love to have had some guarantees of
stability. The reality is that there are few guarantees in the middle of a retail
revolution.
So
what are the upsides? Well, perhaps the biggest one is opportunity. In the
share market, a good time to consider buying is when a market correction is
going on. Getting in to retail right now could be good timing if you are
committed to the industry, happy to look long term, keen to learn from emerging
trends, and wise enough to pick on categories with potential.
When
an industry is shaken up it creates opportunities for those ready to meet
changing needs. Reading the signs, experimenting, adapting to change, are all
qualities most likely to succeed. If you view these conditions with fear then
the future may be difficult. If you see them as opportunities then retailing
may become the exciting challenge that many of us have experienced in the past.
There
is a lot of advice out there about what to do. Just this week a retail
commentator suggested retailers needed to look for supplementary sources of
income related to their business. Tide, the US detergent brand recently created
a chain of dry cleaners, while toymaker Lego has invested in the movie
industry. How that translates to smaller businesses may well be worth some
thinking power and perhaps a subject for a future SBMS information session.
One
of our own Traders this week said she believed the future lay in imparting
vision to customers. She talked about attaching value to products through
creative design and merchandising. By creating products with a story and
connecting with the customer we could transform boring product purchasing into
an entertaining experience.
And
finally, an article in Power Retail this week about the future of retailing contained
the line – “We’re living in tough times – there is plenty of uncertainty. But
with patience, and the willingness to adapt, we won’t see the end of retail,
we’ll just see it changing.”
By Greg Smith