00:00Well, the fact that retailers are having a difficult time is not exactly new.
00:05This has been going on for a number of years.
00:08And indeed, prior to the pandemic, retailing was already starting to sort of suffer
00:13because of the sort of the import, if you like, or at least the sort of the impact, rather, of online shopping.
00:21We like a bargain.
00:22Going back to my childhood, I remember, of course, after Christmas, the first thing that people did,
00:27pretty much as soon as they'd sort of eaten their sort of last bit of turkey,
00:32was to literally go on Christmas Day and queue up at the sort of the big stores to get the sort of the bargains.
00:37What we're into now are perpetual sales.
00:41But, of course, the sort of the difficulty is that if the sort of the retailers on the high street can reduce their goods,
00:48the online retailers, they have a sort of an immediate advantage.
00:51Now, what we have, of course, is a kind of hybrid system of some major stores.
00:56Of course, they also have an online presence.
00:58So one can sort of counteract the other, either sort of the online sales may sort of assist.
01:04What it comes down to, by and large, is that sort of having an online presence is expensive.
01:09You have the fixed costs, if you like, of sort of either buying the premises or perhaps leasing them.
01:14You've then got the energy costs.
01:16You've got the sort of the staff costs.
01:18And, of course, we know that sort of the staffing costs have gone up because of the sort of the increase in the minimum wage,
01:23which, of course, is a good thing for the sort of the workers.
01:26And then a whole raft of other sort of things, such as business rates and sort of other subsidiary costs.
01:32And, indeed, let's not sort of forget that sort of we see lots of reports about sort of shoplifting,
01:37which is becoming a major problem for sort of high street retailers, particularly in big cities.
01:42Across our region, familiar shopfronts are disappearing as major retailers close branches and warn of further cuts.
01:51Rising costs, weaker consumer spending and competition from online shopping continue to put pressure on the high street.
01:59The government say they are supporting town centres through business rates relief,
02:03regeneration funding and longer-term reform aimed at helping local shopping centres survive.
02:10Critics argue that the measures are not moving quickly enough, pointing to high rents, energy bills and staffing costs,
02:18and also a warning that without a deeper change, more closures are likely this year.
02:24So all of that sort of that noxious brew means that it's really difficult now for sort of the online retailers to have any sort of competitive advantage.
02:34And, indeed, that's what it always comes down to.
02:36What is your competitive advantage?
02:38Perhaps if you're an artisan or a sort of special shop, you may get sort of people coming in because, of course, you are unique.
02:45But by and large, our high streets are sort of kind of homogenous insofar as it's just the same mixture of brands.
02:54And quite often they're sort of they're fighting amongst themselves.
02:57Perhaps if we go back a number of years, we found this was sort of Woolworths that its business model had been undermined by the fact that it got rid of its premises.
03:06But it could just about cope.
03:08Then we had the financial crisis in 2008 and people didn't go out and buy the gifts that they might otherwise have done because, of course,
03:15of sort of straightened times.
03:17And, of course, the sort of the global financial crisis did have that impact upon people.
03:22Therefore, of course, it sort of went into sort of administration and disappeared, albeit that there is still a sort of an online presence of sorts.
03:29So all of that means is that people may sort of buy, but of course, they'll buy at the cheapest possible place and they'll go online if at all possible,
03:38because, of course, they're looking to save money.
03:40So a really difficult sort of situation.
03:42And one I don't think that's going to be resolved anytime soon.
03:46I mean, the main question is what can be done?
03:48Well, of course, for us to sort of make a positive sort of contribution to sort of to buying on the high street, which, of course, many people still do.
03:56So the government perhaps could do more by sort of alleviating the sort of costs and giving sort of assistance.
04:02But I don't think they feel sufficiently in mind to do so.
04:06So what we've got is a really difficult landscape, which, as I said a moment ago, is not going to get any better anytime soon.
Be the first to comment