Retail expert dismisses idea of high street revamp

Thursday, October 10, 2013 - 09:45 by Graham Miller

In the wake of the rise of online shopping, many traditional retailers have been scrabbling to either adapt and take advantage of e-commerce platforms, or make their bricks and mortar outlets more relevant and appealing, to keep people coming back.

This is an issue not just for retailers, but also for the towns and cities of the UK in general, because the high street has been such an integral part of many communities for so many years.

However, one retail expert has argued that instead of trying to make town centre shopping more attractive, companies need to take an entirely different approach.

Nick Glynne told the Huddersfield Examiner, that high streets could actually reduce the number of shops by a quarter and realign their focus on providing entertainment to consumers, if they want to survive.

Meanwhile, since many people are now choosing to buy items via safe shopping online and opt to collect them in-store, Mr Glynne believes that retailers should put their focus on providing the best possible distribution networks to facilitate this, with large out of town warehouses and collection points proving to be the best option in his opinion.

Mr Glynne runs Buy It Direct and was speaking at a debate about the UK's economy hosted at Kirklees College this month.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the high street will continue to experience issues while e-commerce sales retain strong growth, so perhaps a new approach is required to save town centres in the UK.

Consumers are now keen to use real world stores to get a look at products up close, before they buy them onl