In talks with Retail Champion, Clare Rayner

With the recent Government announcement that Mary Portas will lead a review on the state of the UK high street and a new independent initiative launching next month, aimed at boosting consumer interest in small retailers, the high street

is more than ever under retail scrutiny. FashionUnited took some time to talk to retail guru, expert, speaker and Business Mentor, Clare Rayner, who is behind the UK launch next month of the Independent Retailer Month, initially a US campaign.

FU: You are a lady of many retail monikers – tell me how you came to be an authority on the high street?
CR: My family have been retailers, dating back over 100 years, so I’ve grown up around shops, including a women’s fashion business. My own career has involved running a men’s shoe concession in Harvey Nichols before migrating to retail HQ, where I worked through the ranks of commercial and supply chain planning in M&S, Argos and Habitat, to name a few, before doing a stint in consulting with SAP and Accenture. I started my own business in 2003, which includes a portfolio of retail brands – The Retail Champion, Retail Acumen, and The Retail Conference.
I think I was always destined to be involved in retail – my love of variety and of making things better probably makes me more effective in a mentoring/consulting/training role than as a retailer myself!

FU: How have you seen retail and indeed the habits of consumers change over the years?
CR: No surprise here – we all know the influence the internet has had and continues to have on retailing. It has lead to price transparency, pre-sales research and peer group review – all of which affect retailers. The internet and technology in general has created a very “on demand” society. It seems no matter what the retailers do to innovate (e.g. ASOS same day delivery) it becomes quickly considered to be the norm, an expected level of service, where actually these things are exceptional! As every retail brand tries to out-innovate the next they set a greater level of expectation with consumers! The recession has also had an impact – people seem to be far more considered in their spending, seeking to spend only with brands they trust and feel confident spending with. Consumers need to feel that they are handing their hard-earned cash over to a reliable, credible retail business. Social media has seen to it that those who did not live up to their promises have been exposed and peer-to-peer review has become hugely influential to the consumer decision process, all enabled by the internet and social networking sites like twitter and Facebook.

FU: You are bringing a campaign to the UK next month from the US, Independent Retailer month, how do you see the difference in UK and US consumer retail habits?
CR: The US team are very open about how there is a “them and us” mentality between Independent retailers and larger players in the US. In the UK the lines are far less clear. Some of our chains are in fact independents, in the real sense of the word, still privately owned family businesses. Apart from that though, on both sides of the Atlantic, smaller retailers are struggling as they can’t leverage the economies of scale of the bigger players. I believe that a healthy high street or any retail environment is made up of a mix of the chains and the independents, each offering the consumer a different experience and product offer, together attracting more business and presenting choice to the consumer.

FU: Why do you think now is the right time for its launch?
CR: The time is right because it happened, if I’d been approached last year we’d have done it then – the fact is that for the last 2-3 years there has been talk about the increasing vacancy rates on the high street and how this is such a shame. At least now, following the government appoint of Mary Portas to lead a review, there is some greater focus on the sector and so we hope that there will be a great level of interest in the campaign.

FU: Despite recent vacancy issues and the Government launching a review led by Mary Portas, we are still the No.1 high street destination around the world - what do you like and dislike about our high street?
CR: I like when a high street is buzzing, alive, vibrant and successful! I don’t believe there is a “formula” as that might lead to the “clone towns” we’re all working so hard to avoid. I believe that the best high street / retail environments are ideally suited to their local catchment area, with the right mix of shops to service the local community. Only then will it succeed and be sustainable. I dislike seeing a mish-mash of incongruent short-term outlets appearing in vacant locations, selling product that doesn’t seem to “fit” in the area and generally making the overall retail offer look confused.
I think landlords need to be considerate of existing retail tenants, when allowing pop-up shops to set up, because the impact they may have on the long standing retailers from a consumer perspective can be doing more harm than good. I equally dislike boarded up, un-kept, vacant shops; the ones which have been used sensitively to display art from the local college, or, have hoardings with murals on, are less damaging to the consumers’ overall impression.

FU: What direction do you think independents need take to survive and indeed flourish?
CR: They need to know their customers so well that they can predict and pre-empt their needs and wants, and offer intelligent solutions. I read a great article by Scott Storey from Epos Partners / CTS Retail – his idea was to be the ultimate service offering so customers are 100% loyal. His suggestion was that should an independent not have stock of an item for a customer ,that they could offer to order it in for the customer, from a supplier or Amazon for instance, and the customer can collect at their leisure. Obviously, this means the small retailer retains that customer and creates a very positive opinion of their brand, thus making themselves the first port of call in future... when hopefully they will have stock and thus can make the sale themselves!

FU: How do you see the future of retail?
CR: It’ll be all about customer experience – a few will compete on price, but actually those who thrive will be offering a bit of “theatre” and they will be the ones who absolutely understand what the consumer wants (perhaps even puts the idea in their head!).

Image: Clare Rayner