My thoughts about the high street.

We all went shopping yesterday into Derby City Centre and it's looking in my opinion that there is a another downturn in retailing, looks like lots more of empty units.

So these are my rambling of why I think high street is changing.

First of all many people are saying it's the recession that has called the down turn but I think that this is just one point and there are other major issues.

One thing the recession has done is to highlight the weaknesses in business in some well known high street names for example the retailer Woolworths who closed after 99 years, WHSmith and HMV who have been having to close stores and make big changes due to the change in shopping habbits and not embracing change (Blog here What SME's can learn from WHSmith and Woolworths)

Many pubs have closed as they have not move forward and changed to what people want. (Blog Why so many pubs are closing)

Landlords of retail units have not helped by setting rents too high and 3 month in advance rents. Retailers who have to pay 3 months in advance is very poor for cash flow. 

What some landlords need to do is to look at fair rents paid in 1 month in advance.Is it not better to be getting some money in at say 4% rental return and the retail unit rented out, instead of aiming for say 10% return but no tenant therefore no rent!!

So if you are looking at retailing a retail unit play the agents off to get the right deal, get a 3 month or 6 month rent free period. 

If the unit has been empty for say 12 months make them an offer, don't pay over the odds and get a contract that is right for you. 

Make sure that you get a break clause so that you are not tied into a lease that may not be right in say 18 months and take professional legal advice!

One thing that has happen to Derby like many other city's is the development of large shopping centre like Westfield. 

There are great plus points about these developments as they can bring great new brands to the city, undercover shopping so you don't get wet etc.

One thing that the likes of Westfield can do is to take the heart of the city. The shopping centres become a clone of any other city.

One great thing that Derby has done is to develop the Cathedral Quarter, which is a mix of retail, dining, history and accommodation etc based around the historic Derby Cathedral. The retailers are independents selling the products that in general you cannot buy in Westfield Shopping centre.

I know that we as a family have changed our shopping habits, we buy so much more stuff online, Online sales keep growing year on year. 

We buy most of our Christmas presents, music, books etc shopping with online retailers. 

So if you think about it how much do you now buy online?

Our holidays are sorted online so when we go to Crete, fights booked by Jet 2.com and accommodation sored by booking via Crete-escapes or if we go to France, ferry booked via P & O and accommodation booked via Owners direct. 

So what I am saying is that may people don't go into travel agents on the high street so thats why so many of those have closed. 

The power of the supermarkets has also killed the high street with there buying power, extended product range for one stop shopping and FREE parking. 

In my opinion governments and councils have given them an unfair advantage buy allowing free parking etc, change of road layouts which takes traffic way from town centre but to the supermarket, for example like what has happened in my home town of Matlock. It has killed the town.

So in my opinion the key reason for so many empty units is the mix of the recession and most of all the change in shopping culture ie the increase in online retailing and "onestop" shopping in supermarkets.

So if you are an independent retailer my tips are, first of all get the right lease, get you own USP to make you business different by selling  for example "designer clothing or jewellery from up and coming designers" or  "local products or foods", creating a special experience, much like our local award winning farm shop Croots.

Use the internet to develop your brand by having a good website, if you can sell your products online, use twitter etc to get a following and promote your business.

Look professional with your branding and point of sale. 

Employ the right movivated trained staff who have the right passion for the business.

Often many of the big retailers have out sourced customer service to call centres offshore so this is your chance to WOW the customer as if they have an issue you can deal with it with great local face to face service.

Work with other retails in your town to get a marketing plan so that you can all work together to promote each other via a website and leaflets, word of mouth etc. This will also give you economies of scale ie small costs to all retailers to get a website, printed marketing material done etc.

If you can make a USP for your town for example Melton Mowbray who use food or like Hay- on -Wye who use books.

Hope my ramblings have made you think that there is so much more to why our towns and cities are changing other than the recession.

Thank you for reading.

Mike Handley

Our pledge to you from the results of the survey.

Thank you to all who took part in our survey. We got some very interesting facts, ie 80% of people who took part value service against price. The key reason we did the survey was to help us to come up with a customer pledge.

So this is our pledge to our customers.

• Graphic Results promises honesty, flexibility, reliability, professionalism, creativity, giving a great and cost effective service.

• Good communication and good understanding of the brief. Honesty and a good knowledge of what is actually needed.

• We will meet your deadline and understand your brief taking time to fully understand your business and your aims to build a lasting relationship that adds value to your business.

• We will do things when we say that they will be done.

• Up front, transparent pricing with no hidden extra costs.

• Your design work will be a worthwhile investment that will make a difference to your business.

• Graphic Results are willing to take the time to understand the needs of the individual person/business; and are  prepared to listen to ideas and suggest ideas so that the final product is a collaboration; and will be honest about what we are able to do and whether we feel it's within our remit.

• We offer a full and complete range of print products that are competitively priced.

• Graphic Results are very driven, focused and full of energy and fun making your experience a refreshing change.

Now your pledge to us.

• Treat us with the respect and professionalism that we extend to you.

• Pay your bills on time.

• Supply us with the necessary information about your business to be able to do the job.


Mike & Liz Handley

Still not using twitter, well you may be missing out on marketing.

Last night I took part in TheoPaphitis  

Small Business Sunday #sbs "tweet you business between 5-7.30" and he retweets his favourites. 

 

Well last night we were one of the winners and our blog about Backing British Business was re twitted to his 90700 followers. 

 

He is a very well respected business man so being retweeted by him is great for business exposure. 

 

Of his 90700 followers I would think that about 80% of followers are people who run or manage business.

 

This means that we got great business 2 business "advertising".

 

The interesting fact was the amount of traffic to our blog, ie 170 reads of the blog with in 2 hours. 

 

As the tweet that he re tweeted was re tweeted by others our blog would have hit over 100000 twitter accounts. 

 

So if you think about it having your message hitting over 100000 people of which most will be business owners or managers for FREE is a great result.

 

Now this is why you may be missing out on twitter marketing if you are not using it.

Most of all thank you Theo Paphitis for re tweeting our blog.

Why use social media marketing? ie Twitter etc

Did you know that Social media works and can bring your business new customers and much more. 

We can help you to discover :-

• The importance of creating a community on Twitter.
• The power of the Facebook 'LIKE' button and smart ways of marketing using this method.
• How Creating short You Tube Videos can bring your product to life
• plus so much more ......

If you need social media help with setting up your account, promotion of your account, 


managing it or advice and training then lets meet up.


Just give us a call on 01773 599159 and see how we can work with you on your social media marketing with  the power of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Blogging  or Youtube etc.

We have won an award from "Dragons Den" Theo Paphitis regarding Twitter.

We all need to help each other, these are things we are doing that may help you.

As we all know business has been very hard over the last 18 months, most of us in the business world have been "ducking and diving" thinking what's the next issue. 

So these are a few ideas that we are going to do over next few months to try to generate new business and to help us trade to the future for our family and staff. My motto is "help people and people my help you".

The first thing that we are doing is ask our customers for testimonials, this is not me being "cocky" but we know that we are great and offer a great service but if we get testimonials from customers that endorses what we do.

Next thing we are going to do is to work on a new referral scheme, as the best form of marketing/ advertising is word of mouth.

Another idea is to take our blogging to another level by using the audioboo and youtube. This should reach a great audience.

The next idea is a little hush-hush as it will be a charity fund raising event, costing us nothing but raising money for charity and most of all great PR and good will. A true "win-win" situation. Watch this space, it will be messy!!!!

An idea that we are thinking of but will need to get a few partners on board is to do an advice event to help people starting up in business. This is a way of getting in at the early stages of someone planning to start a business and increasing our business exposure. This is so important in the light of the changes happening to Business Link. If you offer services to businesses based near us and would like to get involved please get in contact.

These are just a few ideas that we are working on to help us to trade our business to the future for our family and staff but if you have ideas that work, please add comments to this blog.

Thank you for reading this and good luck to us all.