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.