INTERNET shopping has little impact on the decline of retail in our town centres, according to a new study conducted by Manchester Metropolitan University.
In the first study of its kind, the £250,000 High Street UK2020 project identified 201 individual factors that can affect high street success, with internet shopping – which accounts for around 15% of all retail spend – ranked only 15th.
The report concludes the success of the high street is affected more by 'poor decisions' from councils, retailers and the retail property industry.
In Manchester, for example, high business rates, traffic chaos and the abolishment of free on-street parking have forced many major retailers, such as American Apparel, French Connection and Tommy Hilfiger, to vacate the city centre altogether.
One of the study's biggest success stories was found in Altrincham
The report highlighted the top five factors impacting retail performance:
- Retailer representation – which retailers are represented on the high street. Is there a mix of shop fronts and store size?
- Accessibility – can the centre be reached by a variety of transport modes, by bus, car, bike?
- Out-of-town development – are there nearby out-of-town retail parks or poorly linked edge-of-town developments?
- Convenience – can people shop in the town centre without much effort?
- Leadership – is there a clear and realistic plan for the centre?
“About 38 per cent of a town’s performance can be explained by factors that it can influence locally,” says researcher Simon Quin. “The problem is that in many locations retailers and the local authority are not collaborating and working together effectively to increase footfall.”
“They need to get better at fitting in and contributing to a strong and coherent overall town offer, recognising that people visit physical locations for a variety of reasons, including a good customer experience,” says MMU Prof Cathy Parker, lead investigator on High Street UK2020.
Retailers are moving to large out-of-town retail centres such as the Trafford Centre (image courtesy of NPAS_Barton)
According to retail intelligence specialists, Springboard, footfall in the week before Christmas fell 3% from 2014, whilst footfall in retail parks rose by nearly 6%.
“Retail parks are direct competitors to the high street, unlike internet retailing which is more of a complementary channel,” says Parker, “in general we find that footfall continues to shift out-of-town and to very large retail centres.”
One of the study's biggest success stories was found in Altrincham, where ‘footfall was regularly more than 50% higher than would be expected given its location, competition from Manchester and the Trafford Centre.’
“Altrincham is ticking all the boxes,” says Parker. “It is developing a retailer and service mix, anchored around the market, offering the catchment something special as well as benefiting from better access and connectivity, with improved transport links and a £19m overhaul of the Altrincham Interchange.”
Researchers concluded that decline in town centre retail can be halted through strong leadership and cooperation.
“Effective local leadership, collaboration and clear visions and strategies work,” said Quin. “The towns that took part in the project demonstrated that if the right people work together on the right actions it can bring people back to the high street.”
