May 15th, 2018
Earlier this month, we hosted our Retail Therapy breakfast event for some of our Retail clients and their agency counterparts.
Throughout the morning we discussed the current UK Retail environment and what the future might hold for both high street and online retailers. Our guest speakers were Richard Perks, Director of Retail Research at Mintel, and Joe Staton, Client Strategy Director at GFK. We also heard from our very own Glenn Gowen, Head of Audiences at itv, who gave us a consumer perspective, via the itv Village.
Just in case you missed the event, here are some of our key take-outs for you to digest below.
ITV Village
ITV Village is our online research community, with thousands of ITV viewers connecting daily to discuss the world around them. Our ITV Villagers value the retail experience, with just over half of them claiming to have had a really good shopping experience, which was significantly more likely to have occurred in-store.
Many factors contribute towards ITV Villagers having a great shopping experience. Some of these being knowledgeable staff, quality products, the ability to solve problems quickly, store layout and atmosphere. Quality, price and value were the key factors when it came to the decision making process, with the perception that the higher the price, the better the quality.
Mintel
- Online has raised the stakes in retailing and made it much more challenging.
- Online won't kill the high street but retailers need to fight back.
- There will always be a place for both high street and online stores and the successful retailers will be the ones who are clear about their proposition, keep up with consumer trends, and are NOT risk averse.
- High street retailers need to concentrate on what they are good at and get out of the mindset that discounting will cure all problems.
- The greatest retailers make mistakes and are prepared to admit them.
GFK
- UK consumers are feeling more upbeat this month with a two-point rise in GFK's Overall Index Score. However, consumers remain resolutely downbeat about the general state of the economy.
- When will the strong jobs market and rising real incomes, coupled with ongoing low interest rates and low levels of headline in ation, have an impact?
- With UK retail sales falling at their sharpest rate since the mid-90s, tough trading conditions for Britain's hard-pressed retail sector continue to take their toll.
- Shoppers are still not showing signs of a willingness to splash-the-cash. Will this self imposed austerity remain the hallmark of pre-Brexit Britain in the run-up to March 2019 and beyond?
- For Retailers to succeed they need to fight for every penny.
- For more information about this event and any upcoming client events, please contact Leila Travis, Client Development Controller at itv at leila.travis@itv.com
