RESOURCES The end of the School Shop?
O
ver the last 10 years over 26% of onsite School shops have closed and moved online
to Schoolblazer.
Parent’s lives are changing rapidly. Employment data shows that over 70% of all women now work, with up to 85% of the core demographics for independent schools. Independent school parents are overwhelmingly 2 income families who simply do not have time to waste. In the retail world online is rapidly taking over as the shopping method of choice for “non-browsable” purchases. Online sales now represent over a quarter of retail sales in many product categories and this figure continues to grow rapidly. High
Streets are responding by improving the experience, making shops more like “theme stores” and focussing on brand building rather than sales – but this requires substantial investment.
Against this, traditional school shops face a genuine challenge. Over 80% of uniform and sportswear sales occur during the Summer vacation. During this time the school is closed, necessitating a special journey for parents. The Back to School rush means that the time and attention needed for a fitting is often lacking. During the remainder of the year the shop often looks like a mini warehouse, with cardboard boxes of stock filling valuable space. In 2004 Schoolblazer launched our revolutionary online service. We recognised that most school shops no longer met the needs of parents and developed a simple online solution. Crucially this included an intelligent sizing programme to ensure we got the fit right, and to give guidance to parents. Finally we used the power of a central warehouse to sew in name- tapes to all of our garments free of charge. A little over 10 years on we are the largest uniform and sportswear supplier to the independent scector serving over 25% of HMC, GSA and SoH Schools. Over 30% of our Schools have closed their schools shops to move online with us. Fewer than 2% of Schoolblazer parents surveyed express any dissatisfaction with our service. Parents love the ease and simplicity and schools welcome the release of space and capital, not to mention the headache of manning the shop.
Our online service compliments our innovative approach to garment style and devlepment, we not only seek to transform the service, we also seek to transform the style, quality and value for money of the uniform.
July/August 2017
www.education-today.co.uk 39
01832 280011
info@schoolblazer.com
www.schoolblazer.com
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