Solutions for shops & shopping areas
In the 1990s it was already predicted that there would be a change in the retail landscape, due to purchases via the internet. That something is really changing in the Dutch retail landscape is slowly but surely becoming clear to retailers, municipalities and real estate owners. In some places in the Netherlands, especially in the city centres of the big cities, the consequences of the declining popularity of physical stores are hardly noticeable.
In other places, vacancy affects the atmosphere in the city centre and both shopping areas and individual shops are taking measures to turn the tide. However, there are many shopkeepers and municipalities who ignore the trends and who are not yet taking any measures. Here are a number of examples of initiatives and measures against the declining popularity of physical shops at the two levels mentioned: shops and shopping areas.
Shops
Stores that learn from their customers
In his book “The end of stores?” author Cor Molenaar describes that retailers need to move away from their sales-oriented approach. They need to move towards a customer-oriented approach, an approach that online retailers have already mastered much better on average. Given the nature of their interactions with customers, they collect much more information: where they live, what they buy and when, what they look at and search for. In order to remain attractive to customers, it is essential that physical stores also respond to the needs of the customer.
One of the few retail chains that is structurally collecting information about customers in physical stores is Zara. Zara store managers are encouraged to learn from their customers. What do customers buy and what do they search for? What do customers look like? What are the trends in the region? The store managers have daily contact about their findings with the district managers, who in turn have contact with the market specialists several times a week. Because the market specialists are in close contact with designers, Zara can present a new collection twice a week that matches the needs of the customers.
Because Zara hardly advertises, the customer has to come to the store regularly to see the collection. As a result, the average number of visits per customer per year at Zara is much higher than at other stores and customers are stimulated by the limited editions to decide quickly whether or not to buy a piece of clothing. In short, Zara is a textbook example of a retail chain that has made the transition to a customer-oriented approach, with a positive effect on the number of visitors and purchases.
Stores that opt for flexibility
Pop-up stores are stores that can be found temporarily at a location. In this case, a retailer or brand uses vacant store premises, easily movable objects such as containers or a number of square metres within an existing store. This allows retailers or brands to specifically choose specific locations at specific times with their target group in mind. This increases the chance of large numbers of visitors and they can also save considerably on their housing costs.
In the Netherlands, there are a number of organisations that focus on pop-up shops in vacant buildings. Zazone and Pop-up Square, for example, focus on bringing together shopkeepers who are looking for temporary retail space and landlords of vacant buildings. Another organisation, Berenstraat24.nl , focuses on renting out a specific shop in one of the Nine Streets in Amsterdam. This shop offers retailers the opportunity to offer their products for a weekend, a week or a month at a top location in Amsterdam.
Social media offers pop-up stores plenty of opportunities to let people know where they can be found. In this way, they reach a relevant audience. In this way, pop-up stores can have an indirect positive effect on the surrounding stores, not only because they occupy vacant retail space, but also because they generate extra traffic. @Socialijs is an “old-fashioned” ice cream man who uses social media. He uses Twitter to let people know where he can be found in Utrecht.
Stores using technology to drive traffic and sales
The use of social media in retail is still in its infancy. Research by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences from 2011 shows that 44% of all retailers use social media. Online retailers use social media considerably more than regular retailers: approximately six out of ten online retailers (or retailers with both an online and one or more physical stores) compared to approximately three out of ten regular stores. Regular retailers use Facebook and Twitter on a modest scale, for example, to inform interested parties about promotions and offers. The intention of this, as with other forms of advertising, is to increase the number of visitors to the store.
A small number of clothing stores in the Netherlands, for example WE in Nijmegen, own a Tweet Mirror. This is a mirror that makes it possible to send a photo of yourself via Twitter or e-mail from a clothing store. In this way, your friends can advise you remotely on a purchase. The aim of the mirror is, among other things, to persuade the growing internet generation to visit physical stores instead of online stores.
Free Wi-Fi is used to increase the number of visits but also the duration of the visits. In the Netherlands, this is currently mainly done in the hospitality industry, for example at Starbucks. However, at the beginning of 2012, a six-month trial with free Wi-Fi was also started at a number of Albert Heijn branches . The aim of the trial is to investigate whether customers need Wi-Fi and to stimulate the use of the shopping app Appie.
Another form of using technology to attract customers with offers or free products is with gamification and games. For example, Foursquare is used on a very small scale. The “mayor” or someone who has checked in a certain number of times via Foursquare receives a discount or free products at some retailers or catering establishments.
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In Stockholm, McDonalds introduced “Pick 'n Play” in 2011: playing Pong on a large screen via your mobile phone, with a free treat at McDDonalds as a reward for the winner. You do not need to download any software to play the game. You operate the game by going to a (HTML5) website with your smart phone. Such a game not only contributes to the number of visitors to McDonalds itself. The game also contributes positively to the atmosphere in the public space. Due to the viral effect of the promotional video on the internet, the game will probably have attracted even more people to the center of Stockholm.
Online alone isn't quite it either
A number of retailers that also have an online store benefit from extra footfall in the physical store because customers pick up or exchange their internet orders there. Retailers where this happens a lot include H&M, Hema and Bruna. An interesting phenomenon that is currently occurring is that more and more online stores are choosing to also have an offline presence. For example, both www.thecollector.com and www.stylescout.nl will open a store in Amsterdam in the first quarter of 2012. Web shops are also increasingly opting for a pop-up store or for a presence at events. In general, online stores are concerned with contact with the customer.
Shopping areas
Shopping areas that opt for collaboration
At the level of shopping areas, in many places there has been cooperation for decades through shopkeepers' associations to increase the attractiveness of the area. Recently, cooperation based on the Business Investment Zone Act (BIZ) was added. This is an experimental law valid until 2015 that makes it possible for entrepreneurs to jointly invest in an attractive and safe business environment, to which all entrepreneurs in the zone contribute. In a BIZ, the entrepreneurs determine what they want to invest in together and draw up a plan for this. If the municipality agrees to the plan and there is sufficient support, a levy can be imposed on all entrepreneurs in the area in question. The municipality pays the proceeds to an association or foundation set up especially for the BIZ, which carries out the activities on behalf of the entrepreneurs.
Responding to “The New Shopping”
According to Cor Molenaar (The end of shops?), in 2010 a third to half of mobile searches were related to someone's location. The HoofdBedrijfsschap Detailhandel (HBD) also sees the combination of mobile and location, together with the focus on social media, as developments that define "The New Shopping". Mobile services such as Yelp (reviews of products and services) and Scoupy (collected discount campaigns) respond to the wishes for locally relevant information in shopping areas. The HBD itself is working on a pilot in the Netherlands in the field of the new shopping in Veenendaal. In this pilot, retailers learn about the possibilities of new technology and work is being done on a joint technology platform. The website of The New Shopping says about this:
“Both retailers and their staff are taught here to use new technology efficiently and effectively as a collective in the city centre; technology that they need to be able to offer their customers an optimal combination of internet and physical store. The needs of the customer and customer treatment are therefore central to this.
The collective is enabled to jointly set up a platform (and the infrastructure, including the services offered on it to both consumers and companies) that makes new shopping possible. Cooperation in the distribution chain – with wholesalers, manufacturers – is also of great importance here. Consider, for example, the need for current and rich product information (detail photos, videos and the like) in modern web shops.”
Shopping areas that offer WiFi
Heerlen is one of the first cities in the Netherlands to introduce free WiFi in the city centre. The aim of this is to make staying in the city centre more attractive and to give companies the opportunity to develop new services based on this. Heerlen is quite unique in this. Other examples of municipalities that offer free WiFi in public spaces are Rotterdam and Lichtenvoorde.
Attention to the quality of shopping areas
Detailhandel Nederland and Platform Binnenstadsmanagement have set up a prize for the 'Best Inner City'. Winning this title results in national recognition. In 2011, the election was organised for the fifth time. The participants are divided into three categories: village centres, inner cities and large inner cities. The development of the inner city during the period 2009-2011 is of decisive importance in the assessment of the nominees.
The jury assessed the nominated inner cities based on various carefully selected indicators. Examples of these are the spatial-economic development, appearance, the approach to vacancy, safety and the degree of cooperation between the inner city actors. The winners in the three categories were respectively: Venray, Hoogeveen and Eindhoven. This award increases awareness of the importance of the quality of inner cities. The award winners serve as a source of inspiration for other cities.
Some cities choose to use projections, colored light or screens to enhance the atmosphere in shopping areas. A good example of the use of projections can be found in the city centers of one of the winners of the title 'Best City Center': Hoogeveen. Here, projections are made on the pavement and on the waterfront that crosses the city center.
An example of a place where the use of colored light enhances argentina phone number list the atmosphere is the Demerpassage in Eindhoven. The Demerpassage is a very short shopping arcade under the railway, which had a bad name for a long time. Thanks to this lighting, among other things, it is now a popular shopping street.
Real successful screens that enhance the atmosphere in public spaces are mainly found in Great Britain. In more than fifteen medium-sized cities there are large screens of approximately 25 square meters. The “Big Screen” initiative is a collaboration between the BBC, a number of municipalities and the organizing committee of the Olympic Games in London in 2012. The content that can be seen on the screens is a mix of live events such as concerts and football matches, news, information about events, content made by local artists or children from the neighborhood and entertainment in the form of interactive games. Advertisements are not part of the content mix. According to the initiators, the screens make a positive contribution to the atmosphere in the public space and many entrepreneurs in the area are happy with the extra footfall that events around the screens generate.