Keeping the tills ringing

During the past week we have seen Retailers posting the results of their Christmas trading. The first High St casualty has been the photographic group Jessop’s who ceased trading last week and others such as the beleaguered HMV chain who went in administration yesterday, remain firmly under the spot light.  

 

Much talk in recent times has focussed on the demise of the traditional British High St. with 30 shops a day closing down. There is a tendency to feel that all would be well if instead of the plethora of Charity shops, Discount Retailers and Pay Day Loan outlets they were to be replaced by Butchers, Bakers & Candlestick Makers.

In reality there is no going back to this perceived “Golden Age”. The new buzz word in retailing is "multichannel", loosely defined as a strategy that involves selling through stores, websites, mobile phones, catalogues, social networking sites, et cetera. Basically it is an all encompassing process designed to maximise sales revenues.

Not all business models can embrace this system but there has rarely been a time when the old adage of “work smarter” has been more relevant. As more and more obstacles are thrown up to threaten operating margins everyone in any commercial organisation must ensure that they are operating at optimum efficiency.

 

Whilst many Retailers continue to pin their hopes on “multi channelling”, they are not the only sector who will having to radically re-think strategy in the coming months.