The high-street has taken a battering in recent years. The presence of online sales and the sheer convivence of surfing the web has had a major impact. But it’s all well and good blaming the internet for ‘stealing sales’ but is there a more serious issue we have missed?
“It will have tumbleweed going down the middle” says Lesley Kirby. It’s just one of the many predictions for the future of the high street,
Major retailer chains including Karen Millen, Jack Wills, Patisserie Valerie and Debenhams have gone into administration in the past year as a result of the lack of sales in their leading high-street stores. For many, this loss came after the festive period when one would expect sales to be at its highest, sadly this was not the case.
Harrods, London.
According to retail analysts GlobalData, online sales are set to increase by 30% by 2024 increasing high street retailers concern for security.
This retail crisis so far has cost tens of thousands of jobs for retail workers. Bomaché, Pizza Express and Links London are the latest in the equation. But what’s happening more locally?
Clacton, a seaside town famous for its air show, holiday resorts and fabulous pier, has witnessed multiple closures along their Pier Avenue high-street in the last 2 years. Marks and Spencer’s were one of the first to disappear back in November 2017, was this the beginning of the end?
Some might argue the high-street offers more than the internet ever could; Lesley Kirby states: “You get that connection with people and you can go out for a cuppa with friends, rather than just sitting in a room and tapping away at a computer screen.”
Kirby is a local resident and loyal customer local to Clacton. She states she has noticed major change recently, with “Lots of shops being closed already and replaced with charity shops.”
In most cases, people are quick to jump to the conclusion that online sales are solely responsible for the decline of our beloved high-street. Playing devil’s advocate, Darren Cull, Clarks store manager, with more than 15-years’ experience, encourages people to look at the bigger picture in terms of the differing kinds of retailers and welcomes the potential benefits of online sales.
“I don’t think it’s actually got anything to do with the internet, in most towns you’ll find that it’s access to the town itself.”
Cull went on to suggest that Clacton’s local council are making minimal effort to improve access points resulting in customers “easiest solution is to use online websites”.
Cull’s focus on access restrictions takes away the full blame from online retailers and causes us to rethink why people aren’t coming into the town as often.
Does this mean that the reason for the high streets decline goes beyond the realm of online sales and delves into something much more obvious? If people can’t get the shops, how are they expected to spend their money!
Many retail owners or store managers are quick to shift the blame towards internet sales but Cull’s views differ from the norm in that many retailers can use the internet to their advantage.
“I think for Clarks particularly, the online retailers have helped us, this is because a large amount of our trade and the styles we make are ‘online only’ meaning people can order those styles through us, allowing us to get the sale, they then come into the shop to try them on, giving them the opportunity to purchase more items or return to us in the future.”
“The main benefit of having the option of ‘online only’ is that if Clarks didn’t have this facility, the company wouldn’t make enough money to keep the stores open. We as a company need those online orders.” Darren Cull is also sales manager for a Clarks branch located on Witham high-street. He has been commuting there for nearly 2 years on a weekly basis, can the same be said about other Essex high streets?
“Clacton isn’t the only town littered with charity shops, it seems to be the general movement of many towns.”
“I personally think the main issue with Clacton town specifically, is that many of the shops have closed already leaving very little need for people to visit anymore, especially when they have other much bigger towns close by, such as Chelmsford and Colchester.”
With that in mind, Clacton has the advantage of its seaside location. Cull explains: “Clacton experiences a huge amount of trade in the summer season with coach trips and various other events like the air show, so it’s swings and roundabouts really.”
Kate Braithwaite, another member of Clark’s Clacton branch, expresses her reservations for online shopping as she fears for the security of her job, she feels she is speaking for many others in the same situation.
Braithwaite acknowledges that we are all guilty of using the internet for convenience however, for Kate it is “high-street all the way.”
Braithwaite stands with the general consensus as to why the high-street is suffering, but taking her view further by staying: “We live in a generation that doesn’t do anything unless they really have to and this is why the high-street will be non-existent in years to come.”
Is really this why people are losing their jobs, because this generation is too lazy to walk around the town and support their local high-street, because the council can’t be bothered to review access points for their own community, is this really what it comes down too?
Demi Bolton, another retail staff member, defends those who use online websites by raising a fair and valid point: “there is more availability with stock and more importantly, discount codes which you rarely benefit from in stores”. Do high-street stores need to play catch up with their operating websites and marketing techniques?
So, has the damage already been done? Is this what we can look forward to in the imminent future, an empty high-street, talking to online robots regarding queries about our purchases and no community spirit? Or will something be done to prevent the high street becoming a distant memory?
Emily Bickers