Skip to main content

Shoppers in cars spend more!

In a weekend newspaper article, Peter Davies, the elected mayor of Doncaster is memorably quoted as saying: "People will not use the buses: they are poor and expensive. People in cars spend more than people on buses, why wouldn't we want them?"

At the same time, at the CTN World trade show in London, I was talking to a retailer who explained that her local council kept on making it harder and harder for people to park near her shop. They insisted on residents parking bays in roads that were empty during the day when the residents drove to work. They installed traffic lights which took more kerbside out of use for parking. The free parking that was available was not ample enough to support her high street.

Even worse, the council ran buses from the train station to the out of town shopping centre where national retailers predominated and where there was ample free parking.

Mr Davies puts his unexpected electoral success down to plain speaking on issues that matter. He wants to encourage cars back into the centre of Doncaster because he thinks it will be good for business. "We have arrayed against us the climate change alarmists and green fools, who want us all to eat lettuce and live in caves," he says.

The good news for local retailers is that if you can put your case across, there is hope that the electorate will listen.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The launch of the 2009 IAA

We are launching the 2009 Independent Achievers Academy tomorrow in London with a group of retailers and suppliers. The marketing team have come up with a great practical exercise to help us relive the Academy experience. At its heart, the IAA has a simple concept: set a goal, plan to hit it and celebrate the outcome. I hope to learn lots from participants and will pass this learning on to you.

What do shoppers see

I read a good post (http://www.newsagencyblog.com.au/2009/08/28/what-do-newsagents-charge-for-faxing.html) asking what price local shops charge for providing a fax service. The blogger had attached a photograph of his sign with his prices on it. What struck me was the message on the sign. "You drop, we fax," it said. "Pressed for time, drop your documents with us and we'll do it for you at no extra charge." That is a message that will persuade most shoppers that you want to give them good value, even if they stay to do the copying or faxing themselves.

Local advantage? Sainsbury's boss argues it is from his stores.

Online businesses don't pay local taxes, Sainsbury's boss Justin King argues in a big CityAM interview spread. Unlike the web retail businesses, Sainsbury's  "pay business rates at a local level" and "employ people locally" and "pay people locally" and "they spend their earnings locally". "If we are seeing a shift in consumer behaviour towards purchasing online rather than their local store then the government will have to address that the tax system is being usurped by a change in behaviour," he adds.  The point to notice here is that connection of Sainsbury's with "local shop". It is spin. But very effective spin. As any independent retailers who have talked to their MPs about competition from multiples will know, the grocers are very successful at projecting the "local" benefits that they will bring. Perhaps 10 years ago this was true. But supported by a better supply chain, independent...