This afternoon, more than 1300 people were pitched into
unemployment when all 187 branches of camera retailer Jessops closed for the
last time. The devastating blow comes just two days after the firm went into
administration, but follows a string of high-street casualties last year.
Some blame the lasting effects of Britain’s recession,
others the economic turmoil in Europe. But might the trend have more to do with
the long-term changes in the way we shop?
Clinton Cards, JJB Sports, Comet – these were just the most
recent cases of major high-street firms running into financial difficulties in
2012. In most cases, the businesses were sold to investment firms at nominal
prices, and many of the stores remained open, at least in the short term.
However, the message was clear – retail is changing.
Whether it’s increasingly competitive markets, the
encroachment of the big supermarkets, or – as in almost all cases – the growth
of online shopping, the way we buy non-essential goods is not how it used to
be, and the challenge for retailers has been to adapt to this changing society
whilst retaining their identity and distinctive presence in our lives.
Whilst some have thrived in this 21st-century
marketplace, others have failed to keep pace.
Take Jessops. If you want to buy a camera, you might go to
an electrical store or specialist photography outlet to get some expert advice,
or a large supermarket to get a feel for which are the most popular and most
affordable brands; you might then go home and look for the same items on a
handful of online retailers where you’d be most likely to get the best deal.
The internet giant gets your money, the supermarkets go on
selling food by the truckload and the electrical store is happy enough selling
high-margin white goods. The specialist retailer – whilst appealing to the
purist, maybe – has nothing to fall back on and nowhere else to go.
The fate of JJB Sports, meanwhile, was sealed by its
inability (or unwillingness) to compete directly either with its sports fashion
rival JD or the budget chain Sports Direct; Comet was beaten by (Amazon aside) the
superior service offered by its high-street twin, Currys, while Clintons lost
nearly half of its stores as new online rivals enticed customers with unique
services such as personalisation, at no cost for delivery.
The effect, as you walk down the high street of almost any
city in the country, is stark – especially when you factor in the sprawling
out-of-town hubs offering stress-free, weather-proof shopping with
entertainment and dining, not to mention comprehensive transport links and/or
free parking.
Units that once accommodated household names now stand empty
or are occupied by banks, phone shops, or (increasingly) bargain-basement
stores appealing to the lowest common denominator, selling imported or
cost-price goods in volume to customers who didn’t even know they needed them.
In other words, the range of stores that appeal to the
casual shopper – and where there is still a bang for the buck spent on
occupying those locations, employing people to staff them and paying the bills
to heat and light them – is shrinking, and with it the scale of the traditional
retail marketplace is declining.
Jessops had an online as well as a high-street presence, but
its prices could not compete with dedicated internet retailers and its
marketing budget barely registered against the electrical superstores, so once
administration commenced – destroying any shreds of customer appeal that
remained – suppliers and investors fled. In this dog-eat-dog world, it got
devoured.
Is all of this a good thing? It depends on your point of
view. If you know what you want and you crave choice, ease and affordability
then the new world of shopping is for you; if, like the Sage, you pine for the
good old days of high streets buzzing with people of all ages surveying the
wares and sampling the services of shopkeepers, then your time has been and
gone.
If you used to work in Jessops, all that matters is finding
the next job.
