Last week we welcomed five incredible panelists for “Taking Retail Offline”, the first of our BGP Presents events; discussing why fast growing retailers are strategically investing into new stores and locations.

We were thrilled to host founders and key figures from a mix of UK and international brands; Alfie-Lee Marcus from East London born menswear brand Percival, Niels Tange Mollman from international outdoor apparel brand Rains, Jessica Warch from sustainable jewellery creators Kimai and Lara Gibson-Chant of British brand incubator concept Brityard. We were also joined by Leanne Catterall, Director of Retail and Hospitality leasing at Canary Wharf, to offer a landlords perspective.

Our Brand Partnership Directors Harry Elliott and Lizzie Knights took the panel through a fascinating discussion about why they are strategically choosing to invest into in-store experiences and new stores over ecommerce; how they overcame industry challenges and what is coming next for their brands.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

STORE PRESENCE IS ALL ABOUT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

Many of our panellists customers are looking for an experience, not a transaction. Alfie Lee from Percival explained that they put a bar in their Spitalfields store – initially for friends, then for everyone. These visitors browsed, shared pictures online, bought products and told all their friends to come. It demonstrates how the level of customer experience a brand can offer in-store simply can’t be created online.

INTERNATIONAL BRANDS CAN GET LOST ONLINE.

Customer experience is key, and for an international brand without a big digital marketing budget, it’s incredibly difficult to stand out online. Niels explained that Rains expect to grow the brand organically from 21 stores globally to 40 within the next two years: “ Following the success of our latest opening in Dublin, we are continuing to expand in new geographical locations where we are currently unrepresented…..Here in the UK we are now under offer on our first store outside of London, in a location where we see correlation with the city demographic and our customer.”

LOCATION IS AN INVESTMENT WORTH MAKING.

Foot traffic, visibility, and knowing where your customer will be is the most important decision you will make in your store presence.

Lara Chant highlighted that this was a key insight behind the Brityard concept – to give new British brands the visibility that comes from their incredible location on Regent Street.

POPUPS REMAIN THE BEST WAY TO TRIAL A STORE CONCEPT.

Alfie Lee Marcus of Percival said:  “We came offline initially in 2021 to launch a collaboration with Champion. Following a huge success, we extended the pop up to showcase our Percival collection. 4 years later – Soho is now home to our London flagship and have since now opened our second standalone store in Spitalfields Market Shoreditch.”

STORE PRESENCE ELEVATES GROWING BRANDS.

Many retailers launch online and market themselves through social media – Jessica discussed the impact Kimai’s appearance on Dragon’s Den had on brand awareness. Kimai were becoming a fairly established brand and had secured their first store on Chiltern Street, Marylebone before appearing on Dragons Den but the publicity they attracted after the show really helped to boost their profile on a global scale. The brand is now looking to open physical retail overseas.

BE OPEN MINDED ABOUT LOCATION.

A destination’s footfall is fluid. Leanne Catterall from Canary Wharf explained how post pandemic, Canary Wharf’s shopper and restaurant footfall is 60% families, tourists and visitors rather than office workers. This evolution is reflected in the brands that want to take space there, with new openings from Newbie and Trinny London.

Our Brand Partnership team specialise in advising brands on how to elevate their brand through a store presence. With decades of experience and contacts that can open up unique opportunities, get in touch with them to discuss further or arrange a meeting.

So, is this the vision of future shopping habits? What might have been a 5/10 year vision 12 months ago, COVID 19 has accelerated the move to a more “omni-channel” experience. The Issa Brothers and TDR’s acquisition of ASDA came with this idea – no longer a behemoth store with a vast car park, but a hive of activity including “click and collect” drive through channels; fleets of vans on electric charge ready to deliver to the local community and complementary brands within the store, perhaps offering “high street” services (laundry, hairdressing, café etc).

The shift to online business is now the “genie out of the bottle”. Internet food sales now account for >13% of the total cake, and OCADO, the pure online grocery retailer, now has a market cap higher than Tesco. Despite this, the big 4 have an enormous physical store presence which they can better use to fulfil the customer needs. Supermarket Income REIT and their investors certainly think so, being close to raising c£200m of fresh equity, and London Metric, who we helped acquire 5 Waitrose food stores for £63 million during the summer.

Looking at traditional methods of development appraisal, the viability of a scheme is determined by financial models that evaluate schemes based on quantifiable information. With the drive in brownfield regeneration, cities are seeing unprecedented change with profits for residential developers are soaring.

Many developers would acknowledge that the relationship between nightlife and residential property is not necessarily a straightforward one. However, forward thinking developers are beginning to see the non-tangible benefits of night-time venues and live music spaces. These venues can add community value and create a positive image for developments.

Residential development is no longer just a case of building flats and achieving certain values. To make places worth living in developers must carefully consider the amenities that go into place-making and one of these is night-time venues. Delivering this cultural provision is easier said than done, and developers must be proactive rather than reactive to ensure all buildings are fit for purpose. They must consider physical and planning issues early in the development process to enable residential areas to co-exist with night-time venues.

But what about the noise? Modern sound proofing technologies can be implemented if buildings are earmarked for music venues and placement of buildings should be considered so that night-time venues are shielded by office space and public realm to nullify the impacts of excessive noise. Planning also offers possible solutions. Made famous by its ground breaking use by the Ministry of Sound, developers must consider using the Deed of Easement of Noise when developing residential housing near existing music venues. These deeds mean that developers must ensure future residents are aware of the nightclub, helping to prohibit complaints as long as venues are operating within their license conditions.

Of course, these issues are just the top layer of an complex issue, but I am confident if the various parties begin to adapt, we can all reap the benefits of nightlife establishments and provide a model that offers long term sustainability to the institutions that keep cities like London incredibly exciting and diverse.