Every visit counts: making your store worth the journey!
Retail boardrooms will be disappointed that this week’s Budget failed to provide the breathing space promised. Add in falling footfall, AI promising to change everything, and the long shadow of last year's cyber-attacks on M&S and Co-op, and it's no wonder retail leaders are asking where on earth to put their money next.
It's a question that's got us talking here in the studio, because the latest figures tell a story that's easy to miss in the headlines. Yes, UK footfall fell 2.9% in September, according to the BRC-Sensormatic monitor. But more than 70p in every pound is still spent in a physical store. Online has held at around 28% of retail sales for several years now.
Results show that shoppers haven't stopped visiting stores. But they are choosing more carefully which ones they frequent. And when every trip counts, your store has to give them a reason to visit.
For the mid-market and premium brands we work with, that reason is rarely price. It's the chance to see, touch and try, which is the top reason UK shoppers give for choosing a store over a digital screen. It's discovery: stores now outrank online marketplaces and social media as the place people find new products. And it's atmosphere. A third of shoppers say store aesthetics matter to them. Lighting, materials, layout, a place to pause and linger: these are what turn a browse into a purchase, and a purchase into loyalty.
Look at who is investing. Waitrose is putting £1bn into its estate, John Lewis £800m, and M&S more than £300m a year, even while it recovered from a cyber-attack. In the six months after that attack, M&S fashion sales fell by over 40% online but only 3.4% in stores. When the website went dark, the stores carried the brand. Meanwhile luxury retailers Hermès, SKIMS and DeMellier have all opened London flagships this year for the same reason: the store is where customers step into the brand's world.
None of this means AI and cyber security don't matter. Of course they do. But they're the foundations, not the shop window, and nobody ever fell in love with a brand because of its firewall. The smartest retailers are using technology to support the store experience, not replace it. That's just as well, because 65% of Britons say they're uncomfortable letting AI do their shopping for them.
The other thing we'd urge is to actively listen to customers. Only three in ten customers give direct feedback; most simply tell friends and family or quietly spend less. Footfall counters and sales data tell you what happened. Conversations, observation and your own store teams tell you why. The best store developments draw on both.
That’s exactly how we approach our work with clients. At independent luxury jeweller Johnsons Jewellers, the major expansion and refurbishment of the showroom has been met with enthusiastic approval from customers since the doors reopened. The first part of the brief, to create a better experience for their customers, has been delivered, and the benefits to the business are starting to show. Longer term, success will be judged on a mix of sales, customer feedback and how people actually use the space. That’s precisely the blend of hard numbers and human insight we’d recommend. For bakery brand Lola’s, our design for their Selfridges shop-in-shop delivered an overnight sales uplift of more than 30%, and we continue to support the growth of their retail estate today. And for multi-award-winning greeting cards and stationery brand Postmark, we design stores that embody the brand’s ethos without ever being predictable. Playful features and sculptural elements draw customers in, encourage them to linger, and deliver solid business results.
Standing still isn't an option for retailers. Competitors are reinvesting, customer expectations keep rising, and a store that felt fresh five years ago can quickly start to feel tired. In a year of so many unknowns, the brands that keep investing in great face-to-face experiences are the ones customers will keep choosing.
If you'd like to talk about how your stores could work harder for you, we'd love to hear from you.
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