CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

23/2/21

On the UK High Street, businesses are collapsing like sandcastles against an incoming tide.

These relentless waves are powered by the gravitational pull of internet shopping, with a comfort and ease that has relegated some physical outlets to history’s remainder bin.

Arcadia Group including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Miss Selfridge; Jaeger; Harveys Furniture; TMLewin; Victoria’s Secret and many others have all hit the buffers.

Department stores like BHS, Debenhams and Frasers have either gone or are in the process of going.

In Edinburgh, venerable institution Jenners - around since 1838- is also going the way of all flesh.

Department stores in particular have been vulnerable to emerging competition for a very long time; if they haven’t adapted intelligently by now then their days are numbered. 

Ideally, free markets respond to the will of the people; when tastes, habits and fashions change so too do the offerings in the market place – we demand, you supply.

Businesses fail when they don’t anticipate change, or hesitate to do anything about it. There will always be somebody leaner, hungrier and more nimble just around the corner.

There’s a good example to be found in the Marais quarter of Paris where small department store Merci sells a cornucopia of cleverly-chosen items, beautifully arranged and curated. It includes a tearoom and a cinema-inspired adjoining restaurant. The overall effect is eclectic and rare, drawing people in, asking them to come back.

High street stores and businesses in the UK have to read the new consumer landscape, to be responsive and smart – to learn from others (and from themselves) what works, what doesn’t.

People will always value the physical experience of shopping and dining out. Internet shopping and Deliveroo have their limitations – we are social creatures who like to see and be seen, to display our emotions, to engage our senses.

Intelligence must be applied to this problem. We must think about experience, memory, what makes people happy, makes them smile.

This might mean creating something new, and this involves change – the overhauling of something old. In other words:

Creative Destruction.

This is the breaking down of old habits and practices that, in turn, creates new and more powerful means of expression.

Invention and innovation arrive, and with those two things come opportunity.

The chance to find original ways of speaking, creating environments not experienced before – bringing in new clients while helping others to embrace progress.

2020/21 has been a challenge for all business but if there is a silver lining to the cloudiness then it may be this: the opportunity to ask what is it we offer the marketplace and can it be improved?

Can we pick up the pieces and arrange them in a more fully-resolved and enticing way than before?

The idea of creative destruction originated from Karl Marx as he sat in his Hampstead townhouse describing – probably pejoratively – the workings of wealth under capitalism; the constant building up and then knocking down of fortunes.

In free markets as in life, change is a constant and a necessity encouraging efficiency, creating dynamism, forward motion -  momentum.

In our current situation, as hard as it is, we must embrace change and make it work for us; see opportunity, not fear. A positive future lies ahead if we want it.

REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL

5/11/20

Lately, shop-guru Mary Portas has talked about the Kindness Economy; an idea she feels is becoming increasingly important to business, particularly toward customer service industries like retail and hospitality. Kindness to customers, pleasure to patrons -  you must make your guests feel wanted, valued and even, dare to say it, loved.  

As Maya Angelou observed, “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Now many people will have discovered this: a creeping sense of being under siege is an unfortunate side effect of Covid-19.

“Yes you can”

“No you can’t”

“Stand there”

“Wait here”

“Wear this”

Perhaps an antidote to this is a metaphorical hug.  

Give your customers and patrons affection and smiles. Show them real appreciation for coming. Let them know that you’ve missed them, as they have missed you.

Remember they’re fed-up of all the stop/start madness too, the uncertainty.

So when you can, give certainty – that they will be looked after, guided and listened to.

Inevitably, restrictive practices will continue, so try to ensure that these are as unobtrusive as can be; just part of normality, barely worth a mention. 

In the US the Ritz-Carlton hotel group operates a leadership centre that holds symposiums and training days for ‘service excellence’ and has advised all kinds of global organisations, including Apple, who introduced a hyper-customer-focused experience in their stores on the back of the programme. 

Ritz-Carlton believe the transactional economy is coming to an end and there is a need to make changes toward new rules of engagement.  In America the future of customer service is being rethought in response to social change and technology.

As valuable as technology is, it still can’t compete with human instinct and emotion. Smartphones can give you information, algorithms can predict your tastes, but they can never outdo human intuition.

Therefore staff need to learn to adapt to the individual customer, to observe and then second-guess their unexpressed wishes. We all know that first impressions count, but according to experts it is the first three seconds that matter most. 

In the Covid era a feeling of wellbeing is more important than ever. And wellbeing comes from a lack of worry, and worries diminish with order, predictability and attention to detail. 

That’s why it’s key to promote consistency and familiarity as components in your business to help soothe and comfort nervous guests.

People love to travel, they like to arrive and more often than not they like to know what’s there when they do arrive. So give that to them, that thing you do best, the thing they know and love you for.

As for Covid, perhaps we should turn to the wisdom of George Harrison:

“But it's not always going to be this grey. All things must pass.”