Despite Mary Portas's best efforts, the high street remains on a downward spiral. A Deloitte 2012 report suggested that four out of 10 shops will close in the next five years, resulting in a high street lined with coffee shops and internet kiosks.
In contrast to the struggling high street, online retail spending has soared with online sales forecast to reach £43 billion by 2015 - accounting for 14 per cent of all retail sales. The music, film and gaming industries have seen the most dramatic change as more than half of CDs and DVDs are now being sold online - UK based computer game retailer, Game, went into administration in early 2012 with business hit by competition from online-only retailers whilst Borders and Zavvi went bust in 2011 and 2010 respectively. With such closures becoming more common many believe that the internet will prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the British high street.
Or will it? As retailers are increasingly turning to Facebook and Twitter in a bid to drive sales and get people back into their stores, The Drum asks industry insiders how social media can help save the high street?
Penny Anderson, consultant at digital management consultancy Reform, recognises that the decline of the high street is far too complicated to be saved by social media alone, stating "issues like parking, planning problems and increasing rates are not likely to be saved by social media". Indeed, despite a Facebook following of over two million, Topshop boss Sir Phillip Green admitted that he may have to close ten per cent of his stores if rents cannot be negotiated. However, Anderson goes on to say that where people are using well thought out and integrated strategies, social media can actually boost instore performance. So what are these strategies and how can businesses use them effectively?
For the experts from Reform, MARS\Y&R and Kilip the idea of social community was clearly key.
"In large part the high street is in decline due to the fragmentation of communities – more families are working longer hours and there are fewer stay-at-home mums due to the recession. In some ways social and online tools can help to restore community spirit where it has fallen apart, because if the internet is utilised effectively it can benefit local high streets and communities," continued Penny Anderson.
This idea is further explained by Matt Barnett, head of digital at MARS\Y&R as he suggests that "a real focus on the local community is where social media can really drive success. Think about what Waterstones does both in its stores in terms of recommendations from local staff and how it has mirrored this on twitter by allowing each store to develop its own voice and true sense of local community. As a result people feel a real affinity with the brand locally."
Barnett refers back to 2008 when Waterstones embarked on an ongoing social media campaign, introducing innovative projects like twinterviews as well as creating an individual twitter profile for each store location. Through the local and nationally targeted social media strategy, Waterstones connected with consumers, generating online conversation and driving them to one of its 296 stores. The high street retailer was promoted to 3rd position in Google's natural search for books, where rival Borders faced administration just two years later.
So is creating an online community key to a lasting high street community? Katie White, head of Isobar Social, believes that "the likes of Topshop and John Lewis – with over 300,000 fans – have strong presences on Facebook that keep their customer bases consistently engaged through the right balance of incentives, product showcase and entertainment," which ultimately means the online community is being constantly targeted and driven in store.
And once customers are instore retailers must make the most of the opportunity to get them back online, Anderson continues: "retailers could encourage people to share purchases at point of sale and provide good internet connections in-store so that consumers don’t leave and do research about their products at home." Thus creating a network which is strengthened each time a customer visits their local high street store and updates their social media profile with information on their experience.
Consistency in service is therefore crucial. Matt Gierhart from Kilip elaborates on how poor use of social media will affect in store customer service: "The advice you get in store may be markedly different from advice given via social media and employees on the front line may often have little time and patience for what comes out of “head office”. What happens is that marketing departments will make big decisions which can easily fall flat when staff instore are not factored in and communicated with appropriately. These are real wasted opportunities." A good example? Pizza delivery company Domino's -its ability to execute coupons via FourSquare which its staff each knows about has impressed the retail industry.
Barnett from MARS\ Y&R goes on to tell The Drum that social media can also provide a personalised service which is becoming more crucial to today's shopper living life at breakneck speed. "Social media is great for providing real time information – the latest offers, daily specials and up to the minute news, deals and offers. These can then be promoted via a range of social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter. Local coffee shops are also starting to allow customers to place their order via Twitter, saving them the time and hassle from queuing. Local sandwich shops are tweeting their lunchtime specials and other stores, such as shoe repair and dry cleaning services, are using social media to tell you when your service is ready." This, once again, goes back to community and the basic requirement of retailers to understand the modern shopper, what they need and how they communicate it.
So it seems that social media certainly has a key part to play in the rejuvenation of British high streets. Will it rescue it from the "To Let" sign in the sky? Who knows. But if used authentically, intelligently and creatively then businesses stand every chance of getting the modern shopper into their high street store.
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I did a bit of searching for small businesses on my local high street and found nothing except the usual large retail shops and even finding out burtons, the only male shop has closed. Looking grim and then I checked the rates online and no wonder, so expensive.
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Can social media save a high street? No, probably not. Look at a town like Paisley. 15 years ago it had a busy, pawn shop free, high street. The council then pedestrianised the town centre, introduced a one-way system. Then 2 of Britain's biggest out of town shopping centres were built to the east and west of the town. Shock horror - the town centre died.
I would love to believe that something as simple as social media could revive, never mind save, the high street. Unfortunately it just isn't going to happen. Times have changed.
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Can social media save the high street?
We (Bray Leino Destination) have been working on the delivery of a social media package for the benefit of retail destinations for more than a year - to create a product that provides all digital & social media delivery in one, simple contracted package, together with independent evaluation to demonstrate ROI.
We launched 'mall-to-mobile' (M2M) in Jan 2012 ...
One of the first town's 'tested' (albeit with their High Street Clock Towers Shopping Centre) was Rugby, the first destination visited by Mary P on her round Britain tour. Having worked with shopping destinations for 20+ years, we know High Street regeneration can not rely on - nor wait for - grand schemes requiring multimillion £ investment. The money just doesn't exist. We also wanted to provide a simple and cost-effective buy-in that would benefit all retailers - from the multinationals to the independents ... and quickly.
Also crucial was the need for wider engagement - not just putting store promotions/sales/info in the palm of shoppers' hands, but news & local interest stories to aid community engagement and interaction.
M2M is the result of more than 12 months research & development into the changing media landscape as well as growing consumer demand for improved mobile internet access. It provides a seamless service for shopping destinations, gathering information on every retailer to showcase their offer, sharing it with customers through a new, dedicated mobile website, as well as via social media channels - all with almost zero time commitment from the retailers themselves. They focus on what they do best - and we focus on the communication to benefit them and their customers.
The package has been bought by some of the UK's largest property owners/managers (for the benefit of their shopping centres) and is proving very successful - showing great engagement and reach levels in case studies.
Inevitably, High Streets move more slowly - and rely on an eclectic mix of bodies for planning/funding and decision-making. That said, we are in discussions with a number of innovative towns and cities and will announce the first M2M 'high street' project by the end of this month. It will be operational by November, benefiting their retailers in the countdown to Christmas. Find out more here: http://centreperks.co.uk/
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Tricky one, to say the least.
Alone, SM can't save the High Street. However, it can provide the launchpad for real people to take real action, and for visonary planners to create an engaged, connected and informed community. (I propose a Community Network Marketing model here - http://interacter.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/community-network-marketing-%... - that would work in these situations).
The decline in use is complicated and owes much to the current economic climate, consumer outlook and pressure from online - yes, including SM - sources. I believe that we need to look wider than the channel debate and examine the core DNA of the High St (what it is, how it evolved, why it connects/doesn't connect) to get a rounded answer.
At the heart of all of this is connection with the consumer, something which High Streets seem to be lacking at the moment. And within this is the experience of the High Street.
Something comprehensive needs to be done, and soon. Social media will play a huge part, but not the only part...
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The High Street is also suffering even worse now as many people still have credit card debt from when we binged on cheap money - like no other European country - to fuel the retail boom, followed by bust now things have changed and. These people may not be pulled in so easily again as conspicuous spending is quietly frowned upon and there is less cash for frivolous stuff around, for the foreseeable future too.
My big complaint about the High Street is that it is all the same in every city, town and out of town location. With Online you can find truly different products and services. My recent High Street experiences in Edinburgh and London were not that pleasant. So smaller city/town locations must be truly dire.
Short answer NO.
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The high street is full of people. Internet shops aren't.
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Social media cannot fix the 'high street' on its own, it can certainly drive channels of debate to get the high street offer right and provide a valuable 'ear' for local consumer demand and low cost or even free advertising.
Fundamentally, there are big issues with service design of the high street, which in most cases does not cater for the current consumer market before we even get uncommercial rents and rates.
I live in a reasonably prosperous area. The amount of new 'start up' independent retailers that don't even bother to ask the basic question of what do people actually want locally is staggering. They then wonder why they go out of business?
There are however some great businesses that have been successfully established, asking the right questions, doing their homework getting it just right in areas where the chains do not or cannot compete.
Social media drives community and it's already playing a part in my high street and 'the right' businesses are thriving and slowly but surely 'getting' social media, online reputation and services right. Organic butchers, tailors, specialist cake shops, specialist delicatessens, up market beauty salons.
I even got a free meal in my newly opened local gastro pub, the only caveat was to take a picture and post to my social networks. They got loads of feedback, not all good about service, price and quality. They have started listening to their customers comment and making little changes and improvement. Social media give people a voice and a sense of contribution and local ownership.
Personally, I think the futures bright for the high street myself, but there is going to be some pain first, which will drive innovation and clear out the 'also ran and dross'
A great example is Leek. This place should be on its backside, but it has carved out a high street niche in second hand furnishings, reclamation and antiques — consumers travel from far and wide.
Will Tesco's start retailing reclaimed furniture and antiques then?
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This is an Interesting topic Jennifer. Social media is a means of communication that could potentially drive more people into stores not only through the right marketing messages and incentives, but also, social customer service.
If someone has a problem with an in-store experience and chooses to complain online, this should never be ignored. The problem can escalate quickly and spread like wildfire online, which can be detrimental to the brand as well as affecting the footfall to that particular store. Retailers must respond to social media queries - good or bad - in a quick and effective manner. We have covered this extensively at Conversocial, which you can read more about in our blog post http://bit.ly/NGD5Sd.
Social media alone cannot save the high street, but it does provide channels for retailers to be able to listen to what their customers want, understand their needs and most importantly, communicate with them on a one-to-one basis.
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Agree with sbald17262 above.
There seems to be a lot of negative connotations around High Streets, but we can't just give up! During this period of consultation and change - driven by the likes of Mary Portas - it's important that we continue to shout about what the High St have to offer. M2M does a great job of pro-actively collating information and celebrating what is on offer - uniting businesses and encouraging community engagement
Likewise, it's important towns integrate their offer to generate an experience that delivers on customer expectations whilst generating an environment that facilitates increased dwelltime
With both these points in mind, you may be interested in reading this, a timely article in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/business/malls-take-on-the-internet-by...
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I believe Briton's are finally demanding proper/quality service, and the high street simply does not provide that.
The high street has lost all of it's personality and it will be strong recruitment that brings it back, only then will social media have an impact as there will be a personality to sell.
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Currently the trend of buying online to get the best deals and vouchers is growing. However, it is only a matter of time before site such as http://www.bodiluv.com start to drive traffic back offline through the use of mobile.
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