20% Of High Street Stores "to Close Within Five Years"

[cashinmattress]

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The rise in popularity of internet shopping could result in up to 22 per cent of high street stores closing down within the next five years, new research has suggested.

This, according to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), is equivalent to 62,000 shops shutting down. The report predicted job losses of around 316,000 as a result.

And it said that online retail sales will continue to rise, with the proportion of shopping done via the web set to reach 21.5 per cent in 2018, up from 12.7 per cent in 2012.

The CRR claimed the UK is "facing crisis" and said that retailing and retailers will have to make clear strategic decisions that allow online retail to co-exist with other retail channels.

If this does not happen, then "multiple retailers will disappear or be so mortally wounded that a large minority of business categories become dominated purely online retailers", it added.

In order to save the future of the UK's high streets, the CRR said that a £320 million fund is required to redevelop problem town centres.

It suggested large areas of our high streets would be turned into residential accommodation.

And the CRR warned that it won't just be retailers and retail employees affected by the ongoing crisis on the high street, as it will also have an impact on the billions of pounds tied up in retail property pension funds, shopping centre owners and investment companies.

The organisation added, "The current business model is intimately involved with real estate: a significant fall in property prices caused by major falls in the demand for stores (and store profitability) will affect all property assets for many years to come.

"One response will be to reduce rents (and therefore the profitability of developments). It is already having a significant negative effect on many UK high streets and a detrimental impact on town centres.

The CRR said that action is needed now in order to prevent the transformation of retailing from becoming a long-term crisis for property markets and town centres.

Last week, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that traders and local authorities need to work together in order to revitalise town centres.

Research from the organisation shows that 53 per cent of small firms in England think that their town centre is currently performing 'poorly'.

However, 70 per cent of those quizzed believe improved links between themselves and their local authorities would have a positive outcome on their high street.

Who cares about the death of your town centres as long as the nominal price of dimwitted Brits houses aren't effected.

[goldbug9999]

link

Who cares about the death of your town centres as long as the nominal price of dimwitted Brits houses aren't effected.

Was in Game store the other day and saw that they had, along side actual games, steam "download tokens" in DVD size boxes. Er right so how does that work then - exactly why would I ever buy something in a store only to have to download it later, rather than just er ... log into steam and buy it ...

[mikthe20]

Was in Game store the other day and saw that they had, along side actual games, steam "download tokens" in DVD size boxes. Er right so how does that work then - exactly why would I ever buy something in a store only to have to download it later, rather than just er ... log into steam and buy it ...

To give to someone as a present? Makes sense to me.

[billybong]

Give it time and one day in years to come some bright young "entrepreneur" will spot all the empty shopping premises and think it must be cheaper to deliver people's stuff to one local place and people might even enjoy going out and coming into town to shop you know. It would be now if only property, council taxes and parking etc weren't so expensive (maybe that's the cunning plan to convert everyone to internet shopping).

That's if all the shops haven't all been converted to flats.

Edited May 28, 2013 by billybong

[goldbug9999]

To give to someone as a present? Makes sense to me.

I would have though that most of the people who understood what steam was would already have an account, or be able to easily create one, in which case you just use steams built-in gift capability.

[cashinmattress]

... log into steam and buy it ...

Totally so. That's how I give the gift of games; via Steam wallet.

Anybody who shops the high street for media is a donkey, unless its for used stuff I suppose.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

To give to someone as a present? Makes sense to me.

Unless the retailer goes bust in the meantime, or the recipient doesn't get round to using the voucher which, generally speaking for gift tokens and vouchers, is very often.

They certainly make sense to the retailer.

Gift tokens, even more fiatty than the fiat used to buy them with.

[TheBigBean]

Shops need to make their stock publicly available. Someone would then build a nice app to search all the highstreet stores, and the end user would be able to go to a shop with the knowledge that they will get what they want.

Everytime a shop assistant says "we can order that in for you" is one more online only customer.

[Saving For a Space Ship]

I'm cynical about the 'it's all going online' meme. I see a collapse in retail generally.

The bigger sellers with large postal discounts may prosper, but many smaller sellers are getting hammered.

In the last few months, I've noticed the eBay & Amazon 3rd party sellers forums swamped with threads about a massive collapse in sales.

Theories include ebay search engine changes, cold weather heating costs, Rm postal £ increases

Many sellers I speak to have complained of an enormous drop off in Play.com sales (the third placed online marketplace)

I keep seeing big ebay sellers with 100, 000 + items for sale, yet only a few thou feedback for the month, or sellers with 10,000+ items & a few hundred feedback. They cannot continue like that.

Being an online retail biz myself, I have to work twice as hard for same profit.

I went to a big boot sale seling last w/end Sun. & Mon. Despite the great weather & packed field, sales were grim for the sellers I spoke to.

Forum threads

http://community.ebay.co.uk/topic/Business-Seller-Board/Switched/18000498295?start=0

Poll

http://community.ebay.co.uk/topic/Business-Seller-Board/Sales-Dropped-Poll/1700132476

Long running low sales thread

http://community.ebay.co.uk/topic/Business-Seller-Board/Suddenly-Sales-Yesterday/18000416809

Az

http://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=71813&tstart=0

Collectplus.co.uk, the cheap courier who saved many a sellers margins has announced a 20% + increase.

http://www.collectplus.co.uk/news/?p=687&utm_source=Pre-Annoucement&utm_campaign=55b95143fb-PreAnnoucement5_21_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8d2f257295-55b95143fb-64881229

Edited May 28, 2013 by Saving For a Space Ship

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Was in Game store the other day and saw that they had, along side actual games, steam "download tokens" in DVD size boxes. Er right so how does that work then - exactly why would I ever buy something in a store only to have to download it later, rather than just er ... log into steam and buy it ...

You shop at a company that were liquidated, probably owing creditors lots of cash, then they restart/continue trading with the same name ?

You really should think about who you give your hard earned cash to.

[Craig_]

Well the Centre for Retail Research are idiots then, if they think that online shopping is to blame for the demise of the town centre.

I take it they've never noticed the out-of-town behemoths which are heaving every weekend and most of the week? Or the Tesco stores which are the size of several aircraft hangars? Again heaving virtually all the time...

[Nuggets Mahoney]

I'm cynical about the 'it's all going online' meme. I see a collapse in retail generally.

The bigger sellers with large postal discounts may prosper, but many smaller sellers are getting hammered.

In the last few months, I've noticed the eBay & Amazon 3rd party sellers forums swamped with threads about a massive collapse in sales.

Theories include ebay search engine changes, cold weather heating costs, Rm postal £ increases ...(snip)

The last couple of years' hefty RM parcel rate rises must be hurting smaller traders.

For the life of me I can't see how any small on-line trader can compete with the likes of Amazon when Amazon is clearly benefiting from chunky discounts from Royal Mail. I receive stuff in mahoosive Amazon boxes that would cost ordinary folk more in postage alone than Amazon are selling the delivered items for.

On top of that, if you order stuff direct from the Far East those merchants can also ship lower value items to you for less than just the UK postage, excluding the item, would cost a UK-based merchant. Pay Chinese mail rates, delivered by Royal Mail at the receiving end.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Nuggets Mahoney

[winkie]

Well the Centre for Retail Research are idiots then, if they think that online shopping is to blame for the demise of the town centre.

I take it they've never noticed the out-of-town behemoths which are heaving every weekend and most of the week? Or the Tesco stores which are the size of several aircraft hangars? Again heaving virtually all the time...

Retail therapy is turning into window shopping........people like to meet up to touch and feel....they just aren't spending as much as they once did....the reasons are fairly obvious, no need to explain, common sense.

Edited May 28, 2013 by winkie

[sambino]

Only 20% to Close Within Five Years ?? many Northern Towns about 50% + of shops are closed now and the ones left are Estate Agents or Charity shops.

My local nearest biggest town Barrow-In-Furness is one such example and a mate went to what footy at Rochdale recently and he said it was worse which must be bad.

[Errol]

To give to someone as a present? Makes sense to me.

This. You can also buy game-time cards and in-game currency cards to give to people.

[winkie]

This. You can also buy game-time cards and in-game currency cards to give to people.

Or bake them a cake.

[bristolhunter]

You shop at a company that were liquidated, probably owing creditors lots of cash, then they restart/continue trading with the same name ?

You really should think about who you give your hard earned cash to.

MEh. Still better than buying from Steam (though I worry about how much money goes to them for 'Steam activated' titles) - whose customer service attitude is to spit on the customer while laughing. I've gone back to Game.

[mikthe20]

Shops need to make their stock publicly available. Someone would then build a nice app to search all the highstreet stores, and the end user would be able to go to a shop with the knowledge that they will get what they want.

Everytime a shop assistant says "we can order that in for you" is one more online only customer.

I like that idea - a lot. Problem is you'd probably need a standard POS/stock system amongst all small retailers, which would be a nightmare. (POS as in Point of Sale, not as in current and recent Chancellors of the Exchequer).

[Guest eight]

Who cares about the death of your town centres as long as the nominal price of dimwitted Brits houses aren't effected.

If only the "talent" employed by the various investment companies, pension funds etc. has spotted this fairly likely outcome before piling their client's money into commercial property. I mean, it's not like anticipating the future is what they're paid for, or anything.

[cashinmattress]

If only the "talent" employed by the various investment companies, pension funds etc. has spotted this fairly likely outcome before piling their client's money into commercial property. I mean, it's not like anticipating the future is what they're paid for, or anything.

And by talent do you mean the public school boy, coked up swindlers in pinstriped Saville Row suits, who'd sell their own mother for a shot at a vice presidency in their Canary Wharf glass tower?

Nobody got it right, or at least nobody in a position to prevent it... but they sure as hell made a profit in it.

Edited May 28, 2013 by cashinmattress

[motch]

I'm cynical about the 'it's all going online' meme. I see a collapse in retail generally.

The bigger sellers with large postal discounts may prosper, but many smaller sellers are getting hammered.

In the last few months, I've noticed the eBay & Amazon 3rd party sellers forums swamped with threads about a massive collapse in sales.

Theories include ebay search engine changes, cold weather heating costs, Rm postal £ increases

Many sellers I speak to have complained of an enormous drop off in Play.com sales (the third placed online marketplace)

I keep seeing big ebay sellers with 100, 000 + items for sale, yet only a few thou feedback for the month, or sellers with 10,000+ items & a few hundred feedback. They cannot continue like that.

Being an online retail biz myself, I have to work twice as hard for same profit.

I went to a big boot sale seling last w/end Sun. & Mon. Despite the great weather & packed field, sales were grim for the sellers I spoke to.

Forum threads

http://community.eba...0498295?start=0

Poll

http://community.eba...Poll/1700132476

Long running low sales thread

http://community.eba...day/18000416809

Az

http://sellercentral...=71813&tstart=0

Collectplus.co.uk, the cheap courier who saved many a sellers margins has announced a 20% + increase.

http://www.collectpl...5143fb-64881229

And don't forget we've all had a golden era these last 10 years or so with masses amounts of small individual online sales sent out via Royal Mail for pennies really, and definetely as a loss, tens of millions of items every month sent the length and breadth of uk for 50p or something, ok it's gone up recently and is likely to go up again, will this hit internet sales? making a turnaround in circumstances?

With Royal Mail probably going into private hands and profit being the number one issue it could wipe out small item /small mark up/large turnover type internet sellers. (as in the above anecdotal experience)

[TheBigBean]

I like that idea - a lot. Problem is you'd probably need a standard POS/stock system amongst all small retailers, which would be a nightmare. (POS as in Point of Sale, not as in current and recent Chancellors of the Exchequer).

Multi quote business is a bit tricky.

Don't they all use barcodes? Easy.

It probably would require larger companies to create a standard to start with, but it is feasible. M&S and the like need to realise that by increasing high street trade, all high street retailers benefit.

[Saving For a Space Ship]

I'm going to start a new thread here on the online sales collapse as I think it's a very significant event, and to save taking Op's thread off topic.

fascinating insight.Thank you.

The last couple of years' hefty RM parcel rate rises must be hurting smaller traders.

For the life of me I can't see how any small on-line trader can compete with the likes of Amazon when Amazon is clearly benefiting from chunky discounts from Royal Mail. I receive stuff in mahoosive Amazon boxes that would cost ordinary folk more in postage alone than Amazon are selling the delivered items for.

On top of that, if you order stuff direct from the Far East those merchants can also ship lower value items to you for less than just the UK postage, excluding the item, would cost a UK-based merchant. Pay Chinese mail rates, delivered by Royal Mail at the receiving end.

And don't forget we've all had a golden era these last 10 years or so with masses amounts of small individual online sales sent out via Royal Mail for pennies really, and definetely as a loss, tens of millions of items every month sent the length and breadth of uk for 50p or something, ok it's gone up recently and is likely to go up again, will this hit internet sales? making a turnaround in circumstances?

With Royal Mail probably going into private hands and profit being the number one issue it could wipe out small item /small mark up/large turnover type internet sellers. (as in the above anecdotal experience)

Edited May 28, 2013 by Saving For a Space Ship

[Ash4781]

So products manufactured abroad and no shops? Presumably the only jobs will be in finance , legal and the public sector. Though these sectors would need to be subsidised as the tax take will have collapsed and many loans gone non performing wiping out capital.

[SNACR]

Article from landlord reeks of desperation.

Apparently retailers must get the mix right. I'd say at least 75% online.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/10083029/The-future-for-British-shops-is-bright-but-retailers-must-get-the-mix-right-to-attract-customers.html