Industry: Buying Groups View from the industry Buying group STAG tells the trade about the importance of e-commerce to modern day retailers. W
e now live and work in a digital world. From social and business networking to looking up feedback on a possible holiday destination, more often than not our first port of
call is now the internet.
Consumer shopping is now multi-channel, with more than 70 per cent of adults in the UK shopping on the internet; at Christmas this can increase to over 90 per cent. This increase in online retailing is accelerating at an alarming pace, and to be honest comprehending this change in consumer buying is very daunting.
However, there are experts and services, and plenty of information, out there for us to learn and adapt to these new buying habits. For our business, we have recently invested in upgrading and updating the STAG and Freedom buying groups’ websites that were launched in 2009. Whilst we are not buying and selling on these website, we did recognise the need to make the sites yet more interactive for members and suppliers.
We have enlisted the services of a company called Sitemakers, who we recommend to STAG members as a provider of e-commerce storefront solutions for independent retailers. The new and improved websites were unveiled in April.
One of the reasons we decided to use Sitemakers was their unique LiquidShop system, supported by an in-house website design team, offering
ongoing support and training once the website goes live. In this ever- changing digital environment, we wanted the facility to keep updating our website without having to start all over again.
For independent retailers the LiquidShop also offers many third-party systems including accounting, EPoS and stock management, which are essential for retailers. The order management system allows the retailer to communicate with consumers by emailing automated order status updates, whilst it also is able to create invoices, picking and packing notes and print stored customer and order histories.
Because LiquidShop has an intuitive browser-based content management system, the retailer can manage the content of their online store from any internet-connected computer. Therefore, all control is with the retailer to control products, categories, options, searches, special promotions and much more.
Online shops for independent retailers can be a great addition to their excellent in-store knowledge and product availability, because in my opinion you cannot beat independents whether online or shop-based for their unique customer service that they offer to consumers, compared to multiples and chain retailers.
Ricky Chandler Managing director, STAG
STAG’s Far Eastern adventure W
ard [Robertson, co-managing director] and I have just returned from a fascinating trip to China and Hong Kong to look at sports and outdoor manufacturing and retail. At every factory we visited the owners told us how they are dealing with rising raw material costs, the demand for higher wages from workers and their declining work force. Some factories are moving location further inland because they can no longer attract the levels of migrant workers that they enjoyed in the past. A large number of migrant workers are now staying put in their hometowns where there are now factory and other non- agricultural jobs. This alone has an impact on transportation costs and manufacturing lead times as both materials and finished products need to move much greater distances. Footwear manufacturers have been worrying about the prospect of rising expenses for producing shoes. Now thanks to huge rises in raw materials, labour costs and the unrest in several oil producing countries, those fears are economic reality.
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In the past pressure has been applied to manufacturers to hold prices but the time has come where the increase will have to be shared by brands, retailers and consumers. We were amazed at the labour intensive way that shoes are still manufactured. Something in the region of 320 people will handle one pair of shoes during the whole process from raw material to the boxed product. Whilst this will come as no surprise to the brands’ industry people that earn a living by travelling to see and manage this process I can assure you it is a total eye opener to the less educated. Factories with more than 4,000 workers all dedicated to producing one component in painstaking magnificent detail is a sight that everyone connected to this industry should see. In contrast we were also shown the state of the art ion-mask treatment facility with less than 25 workers, which is currently used by
Hi-Tec, adidas, Timberland and K-Swiss to treat footwear. The dozen or so space age looking machines are used to give the footwear hydrophobic properties in five minutes. To see such a modern facility surrounded by vast areas of more basic industrial processes was encouraging and demonstrates the innovation which continues to dominate the sports and outdoor industry.
Ricky Chandler Managing director, STAG
www.sgb-sports.com
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