Yesterday, Mary Portas, Queen of Shops, issued her report on the future UK high street. Countless news programmes and radio phone-ins debated what she said and in amongst the opinions, agreeing and disagreeing with her ideas, one of the callers made a really important point. Or rather, they asked a really significant question: “Is shopping on the high street a positive experience?”
So why ask this question? Because in the midst of the suggestions to boost footfall and bring people back into town and city centres, there was a fundamental issue. Consumers didn’t enjoy the experience and many callers made this point. And the caller who asked the question, the owner of a high street flower shop, continued by saying that her strategy was to make the experience positive and a memorable one, with the purpose of winning and retaining new customers.
She gave two great examples. One was selling some flowers to a couple who called at midnight, whilst she was in the shop sorting a big order. Although it was a small order (£25) she was happy to help them. A year later the couple came back with an order for their wedding – at over £1,000! The other example was more extreme but you could see the logic in it. The flower shop owner instructed her delivery drivers to help elderly people with shopping bags by stopping and offering them a lift home. No financial gain, but hopefully a boost in reputation and word-of-mouth advocacy that would benefit her later.
Yet her own experience as a consumer was mainly negative, Walking into shops and being pointed in the right (sometimes wrong) direction (so not to disturb the sales assistant’s phone call) or worse still making a purchase without making any audible contact with anyone at all. I can relate to this one. I often buy petrol and find that the self-service option and paying at the kiosk offer exactly the same amount of customer/staff interaction!
Back to the point. Mary Portas has made a number of excellent observations and recommendations in her comprehensive report including “town teams”, lower business rates, free parking etc, but the fact remains that unless customers enjoy the experience of shopping on Britain’s high streets, then they aren’t going to come back. So for me, the crucial advice contained in the report was on page 43 and was aimed, not at the government or local authorities, but at the shop keepers themselves.
It said: “Experience, in the truest sense of the word, is something which touches people on a deeper human level. Great brands, retailers or not, have realised that a three dimensional brand experience is by far the best way to engage with customers and build loyalty. Being and buying. A place I feel so happy to be that it’s a given I’ll buy something. Too many retailers start with the product and build outwards. Too few start with the customer experience and design the product to fit into it.
Most of the retail pundits proclaimed that great service would be a critical differentiator between the survivors of the recession and those who fall by the wayside. I’d go one step further. I believe that good service is our basic right. Far too many businesses on our high streets don’t prioritise good service as part of their offer, meaning that as a nation we’ve come to expect no better. This is where the smaller operator can step in and break the mould. It’s amazing how the smallest service gestures really make a difference: from connecting with and really knowing and caring for your customers, to having an in-depth knowledge that guides and advises them; serving is quite simply the new selling.
I believe if you put the customer first, compete on a higher playing field and bring something genuinely different to our high streets, then the customer will come and find you.”
It’s not just down to Mary Portas, politicians and town planners to get people back onto the high street. Retailers need to take responsibility for making the customer experience one that will bring that customer back again, telling friends, family and colleagues about it along the way. They have to be better at customer service than their out-of-town rivals or the supermarkets or on-line providers. Because they simply won’t be able to compete on price, efficiency or product choice. Delivering great service is one of the few battles they can win. And that is the real challenge ahead for the UK high street.
