MISFIT
The High Street T
oday we learn that House of Fraser an iconic retailer for over half a century is closing half of its store……….why?
I have been involved in the shoe trade for well over 40 years. I’ve seen the highs and lows of retail. The demise of The British Shoe Corporation, who had numerous shops on every high street, A Jones & Sons who, at one time, had well over 100 shops and so it goes on.
We have also seen the development of new style footwear traders, Schuh,
Office to name but a few. Then we have the Internet and shopping channels which have changed the entire way we shop today.
The High Street is no longer a place where you shop for necessities. It is
now a social area where you wander around with time to spare, maybe take a coffee or some lunch. If you do venture into a retail outlet you want it to be a shopping experience where you can peruse at leisure, maybe try something on, and if it’s different enough, you will buy.
It is my firm belief that if independent shoe retailers are to survive then
they have to change and get on with it fast. If you look at the vast majority of retailers, they have been buying the same shoes from the same suppliers for years. They are still displaying them in the same way not updating their shop, and all you hear them do is blame everything else for trade being bad.
I went north a few weeks ago and visited Ward Shoes in Bakewell. What a
breath of fresh air, the shop had been completely revamped, it looked fresh very En-trend with an exciting range of brands and styles. The staff were fantastic, extremely motivated by their new shop and from what I hear it is doing very well. I continued my travels and visited Strolling 4 shoes in Cumbria, again a breath of fresh air, different brands and lots of unusual props so the shop felt exciting and somewhere you would want to shop. Again, reports of excellent trade, especially as they had just finished a TV advertising campaign. On my way back I called into several traditional shoe shops and as usual all I got was how hard the trade was. Going back to successful shops I visited Northern Ireland back in April and discovered Panache …. Wow, what a shop. Not only was it full of customers the collection was amazing, and the shop fit beautiful, they weren’t complaining.
With regards to the Internet it is very interesting to see a few of these
traders starting to struggle which in my view is due to the vast amount of stock they are carrying, the fact that by the time you have discounted the price , paid a third party market place a fee, offered free delivery plus free
16 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • AUGUST 2018
returns and then paid staff to run the venture it leaves very little profit and as I always say “Turnover is vanity…. Profit is sanity”.
While on the subject of the internet - when are the suppliers going to stop
not only the independent traders discounting but also Amazon? It is crazy how they are allowing these folk to ruin their brand, and all you get in reply is “ well its very difficult to police and by law were cannot fix RRP’s.” In my view its more that they are scared to upset Amazon etc as they buy such big quantities. That’s all very good until Amazon drop the brand and all the small retailers turnaround and say” its Ok we have found alternatives” or gone out of business. Luckily there are some retailers who sell on the net who make a good living without discounting. Clinkards is a classic example of this they don’t need to discount, they offer excellent service and the product consumers are looking for at a correct price.
I feel it is imperative that as a retailer you have a website that can
showcase all your product, as so many people now browse the internet for the type of shoes etc they are looking for before visiting the shop. Also, in today’s world, you need a good presence in all forms of Social media. This is something I don’t understand but can see that it is becoming a major part of people’s lives when they are researching product.
I have said this many times before, if the suppliers want to help the
retailer, then firstly stop making them commit to orders 6 or 7 months before they have any chance of selling them. Every shop in Britain was full of sandals in March and what did we have …… SNOW. Then in April the suppliers are chasing payments, what chance does the retailer have. Maybe if the suppliers put their money where their mouth is and started to hold stock themselves, then that would give the retailer a chance. How often in the last month now the weather has turned have you phoned up a supplier to try and get more stock only to be told “ Sorry we have sold out of that style”. Come on suppliers back your product……… you make the retailer.
Whether you agree or disagree with my comments I think things have got
to change on the High St. It will never die completely as women, especially, will always want to go shopping and luckily for the shoe trade there are thousands who love shoes. You can either sit back and watch the trade disappear before your eyes or sit up and think how can I change my business to reflect today’s consumer.
Misfit welcomes comments and suggestions from independent footwear retailers. Email:
MisfitFootwear@protonmail.com
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