nickshanagher

The most memorable idea in John Stanley’s keynote presentation at the Local Shop Summit was that the world of retailing will change more in the next five years than it has in the past 100.   As a result, local shopkeepers were going to have to change their thinking, embracing things like using social media to establish themselves as “day makers” for their local communities. The usual suspects heard his message and their positive feedback energised the team who put together the event. But what of the other retailers there: what were they thinking? I don’t know but I will have a stab at it. One of the first retailers I met more than 20 years ago when I started to cover this industry ran a small local shop and was passionate about his customers and what he sold. In the town where he operated, his shop had a reputation as the place to go for hobby magazines and collectables. His passion for news and for stocking the latest stuff translated into a successful business. H...

There is a lot of talk about growth and the convenience channel and it was no different at the Local Shop Summit in Torquay earlier this month. With more than 200 retailers in the audience, John Kinney, retail director of Today’s, asked a simple question: Who was in growth? The answer on the electronic pads was 42%. As industry figures show that more people are shopping more frequently in local shops - and experts say more than £10 billion in extra sales will be in the convenience channel by 2018 - where is the growth? Principally in supermarket stores and in symbol groups, says Kinney. Why? Because the biggest area of convenience is top up shopping and this plays to the supermarket operators’ strengths. What he did not say is that much of that £10 billion is not new money but simply the transfer of sales from a Tesco out of town to a Tesco in a high street. What is encouraging for independents, particularly those in symbol groups, is that they are winning sales from thes...