Expert Advise – How to perfect a window display
28-02-2006
‘Windows of
Retail Past-Present-Future
The question one everyone’s lips – who will be the next big name in fashion?
Retail at the moment is stuck in a rut; the high street is not presenting anything new or eye-catching in merchandising, product or design. Zara and Mango were the last big names to make a real difference to the high street, but know one since has come along and created anything really new and I for one am bored with the selection of shops out there, surely I can’t be the only one?.
Perhaps the future of fashion and retail lies in the past?
We can learn a lot from the early days of retailing – Marks & Spencer’s old motto;
‘Don’t ask it cost a penny’
They have come along way from the early days of trading on market stalls in the early 1900’s, how things have changed for them, market traders to high street giants. However just because something grows bigger it doesn’t mean its better, many a retailer has lost their true identity by growing and expanding from what they were originally and losing their unique selling point.
‘Every shop tells a story’
The Changing Face of Retail
- Until the First World War clothing for the majority was made to measure, hand made or seamed by a local tailor.
- After the First World War soldiers returning, required civilian clothing and this was the driving force for such companies as Burton Tailoring to become established.
- From the 1950’s until the early 1960’s
Britain
- But with the change form bespoke to casual clothing, this opened up the market for large fashion chains such as Arcadia & M&S, which in turn lead to the demise of many small Independents. Bringing with it cheaper prices and larger product ranges, and the start of merchandising and stock control.
Retail however is always changing & striving for new developments & ways to shop.
‘Every shop tells a story’
Creating an Atmosphere
In the last 10 years shopping for that ‘special outfit’ has changed, as consumers we demand more out of shops. When we go into a store to buy an outfit we demand to be indulged, we want excellent service, good products, pampering. Consumers are no longer being told what to buy and when.
This has opened up the ‘shopping experience’ and taking the idea from the U.S.A shopping malls – which are now becoming ‘fashion destinations’.
These out of town custom built shopping centres with plenty of free parking and under one roof the entire High Street, the reason for their success is that in the U.K there is simply no more room for large scale expansion within existing High Streets. However there has been some debate that these destinations are impacting badly upon smaller rural and suburban town centre, which causes great social problems for customers without cars, such as pensioners and the poor.
Within the South East there are two very different custom built shopping centres:
In contrast when BLUEWATER was opened in 1999 situated in
Built with 3 very different shopping areas, and with 1.5 million sq feet of retail & 250,000 sq feet leisure facilities, it was to become one of the largest shopping destinations in
RETAIL FUTURE
Consumers are demanding more they want not just good products at competitive prices as well as being made to feel special even if they are buying a t-shirt.
We demand more from our retailers and those that do not give us what we want will be left behind, not only does the high streets have to compete with: charity shops, eBay, catalogues, car boot sales, but now the supermarkets to.
The values and training techniques of the past are now being used in the present day retailing, specialist are now becoming the retailers of tomorrow.
Written by Paula Arkell Retail Consultant
