POSITIVITY is not a sentiment often coupled with the retail industry these days, but that was the overwhelming message among panelists at Manchester Fashion Network’s (MFN) recent discussion, The Future of Manchester Retail.
Dale Hicks, MFN managing director, chaired the discussion at the Thomas Street Bar & Restaurant and welcomed panelists David Allinson (centre director for Manchester Arndale), Rachel Combie (director of strategic marketing at Marketing Manchester) and Jane Sharrocks (general manager at Selfridges Manchester Exchange Square), to discuss the current state of city centre retail and its future.
“My interest is Manchester,” said David Allinson, “anything that benefits the city will directly or indirectly benefit Manchester Arndale, from the Christmas Markets to the MetroLink extension.”
“Retailers are having to act more tactically,” said David Allinson on the biting economic recovery, “December was flat year on year, they had to react, and they did with offers and promotions throughout the month.”
Allinson’s reign is over the UK’s largest inner city shopping mall, catering to the masses with national high street retailers, brands and a record-breaking footfall for the 2012 Christmas trading period. Therefore, he can be forgiven for being rather positive about the state of his empire.
However, the city centre’s ability to attract custom despite the downturn has also been noticed by Allinson’s next-door neighbour, Selfridges.
“The city centre attracts a more affluent customer,” said managing director, Jane Sharrocks.
Selfridges was the only standalone retailer represented on the panel, but with the added value of an insight into trading patterns of both a city centre and out-of-town location, at the Trafford Centre.
Selfridges, Manchester Exchange Square
“There’s only a 10-15 per cent crossover between the Trafford Centre and Exchange Square customer,” said Sharrocks.
“The city centre is for visiting, eating and the Trafford Centre is for shopping in high volume. The city centre attracts more ABC1 customers than the Trafford Centre.”
Good news for city centre retailers then, surely, if the lower spending clientèle are being diverted to the faux marble and gilded delights of the Trafford Centre? Not exactly.
Whilst there are differences between customers shopping in the two Manchester Selfridges stores, the brand still considers investment within both the city centre and the region’s largest out-of-town shopping destination a worthwhile endeavour.
When asked if the Trafford Centre, and other out-of-town shopping centres, were a threat, David Allinson responded, “the footfall speaks for itself.”
Manchester Arndale’s core customer visits the centre, on average, once a week and Allinson rebuffs claims free car parking at the Trafford Centre is a major factor against his mall, by revealing an overwhelming 85 per cent of footfall travels to Manchester Arndale by public transport.
The consensus surrounding the out-of-town debate was that noisy neighbours in the outer provinces would always be a challenge, but the city centre can retaliate with a multifaceted approach.
That’s where Rachel Combie comes in. Combie’s role at Marketing Manchester is to ensure the city promotes itself to consumers in the region, throughout the rest of the country, and even to the world. A job well done, according to Jane Sharrocks, “Manchester shouts about itself,” she said, “we’re very proud.”
Combie was the panel’s token council representative, but instead of lynching her like a crazed mob, attendees seemed happy to let her recap on some of the initiatives her and her team have implemented as well as those planned for the future.
The Manchester Christmas Markets, the jewel in Marketing Manchester’s proverbial crown, were touched upon more than once, but Combie thankfully seems keen to build on their success in alternative ways to just making them even bigger year on year, “we need to ensure we have diversity throughout the year… the city centre has the breadth needed to maintain a buzz and retail economy.”
The recent closures on King Street didn’t escape discussion, with a King Street independent trader asking if Marketing Manchester had any ideas for the eight empty units on the street. “We’re limited in what we can do,” Combie replied, “we are answerable to those building’s owners and getting access is difficult.”
King Street Manchester
Whilst Manchester’s city centre retail industry is met with challenges from within, the industry as a whole has been taken aback by the impact of ecommerce in recent years. Recent casualties to the might of online retail include former Manchester Arndale tenant HMV.
Still, the relentless positivity prevailed with Selfridges’ Jane Sharrocks citing the power of online as a challenge, not an obstacle.
“There’s nothing we can do to change [ecommerce]… we’re anticipating Selfridges.com to become the brand’s biggest store.”
Quite the feat considering the Oxford Street store takes roughly £2m per day. However, there is no competition between bricks and clicks at Selfridges, “online is considered the fifth store, it’s just treated slightly differently,” said Sharrocks, “we have online ambassadors in-store and operate click ‘n collect.”
With the move to welcome online within the folds of traditional retail at Selfridges being the case, simultaneously the brand works to create a point of difference between their bricks and click services. “You’ll never be able to eat online, to get your eyebrows done… it’s all about experiential marketing, giving customers an experience in-store they can’t get online.”
Manchester Arndale is not immune to the ways of the internet either, however David Allinson’s concentration is on mobile.
“Mobile commerce has more than doubled in recent years,” he said, “and with 57 per cent of people owning a smart phone and 27 per cent of those people using it to shop on a regular basis, we need to harness the power of this technology… you have to see it as an opportunity.”
Manchester Arndale shares a similar interest in mobile communication to Marketing Manchester. Rachel Combie commented on the change from sticky to sloppy content, meaning that once upon a time marketers would try to ensure their digital marketing content was sticky, in that it brought people to their sites and kept them there.
With the rise of social communication, that content must be sloppy to ensure it slips and slides and reaches as far and wide as possible. How the two establishments communicate with their consumers will have to take mobile into consideration if it is to be relevant.
The concluding theme was that in order for Manchester to continue to thrive during these difficult times, ultimately collaboration across the board is required.
“We’re at our strongest when we work together,” said Rachel Combie, a sentiment her fellow panelists agreed with wholeheartedly.
“My interest is Manchester,” said David Allinson, “anything that benefits the city will directly or indirectly benefit Manchester Arndale, from the Christmas Markets to the MetroLink extension.”
Selfridges are making their investment in the city known financially with £20m being pumped into the Exchange Square store, as Jane Sharrocks concluded “we have to keep up with people’s changing shopping habits … space tourism, for example, may seem light-years ahead but it’s coming and it’s just one of the things we have to be prepared for.”
Follow Jordan on Twitter @jordanjmcdowell. Visit Jordan's blog: www.fashionrambler.com
