Design for a Sustainable High Street - Essay Example

Design for a Sustainable High Street Design for a Sustainable High Street Introduction High Street refers to the primary business streets in cities and towns, particularly in the United Kingdom and a number of Commonwealth countries (Sherwood, 2004, p.306). Despite the healthy growth of high street retail in the past, the traditional high street has faced a number of challenges within the last few years. The current high street crisis is characterized by growing competition from the increasing out of town shopping centres as well as the rise of online retailing. These challenges were further compounded and exacerbated by the recent economic downturn which has slowed down the private and public sector investment and the entire retail system. According to many experts, the results of these challenges have put the contemporary high street in a crisis with many familiar retailers in the UK such as Comet, Jessops, HMV, Block Buster going bankrupt and closing their doors. Additionally, many previously successful retailers such as M&S fashion now struggling to attract and keep shoppers. This paper proposed a creative design of sustainable future high street retail for Caterpillar gift shop based on a critical analysis of the current challenges of retail on the high street, the current trends, opportunities as well as the expected future challenges. Analysis of the Current Trends The development of Street retail and new investments in town centres remain one of the most vital elements of the contemporary urban regeneration agenda across the United Kingdom. This is particularly true in the locations which have stronger business identity or which can offer greater attractions for cultural, entertainment, tourism and leisure activities. Despite the fact that new traders are now appearing and disappearing as fast as they start up because they are unable to adapt to the drastic shift of consumer shopping from high street to the growing e-commerce and online shopping, high street retail investment continue to be sustained in commercial areas of many cities across the country (Wrigley, 2011, p.38). Fig 1: High Street in Gillingham, England Despite the current crisis in the high street retail market, there are a number of emerging trends and factors which are likely to impact on the success, strengths, limitations, opportunities and threats to a sustainable high street retail in the near future. With regard to the challenges and threats to the future high street retail, some of the major factors that should be taken into consideration include the changing consumer demographics, the current struggling economy as well as the aging society. In fact, the local and independent retailers have not succeeded in adapting to the different challenges they have faced within the past twenty years. The economic downturn particularly resulted in huge volumes of reduced sales within the last few years and the effects are expected to continue up to the year 2018. As a result, there are risks that the current high street retail is likely to remain static or even fall for sometime due to the limited consumer expenditure. One thing affecting large multiple retailers and local retailers is the failure to pay much attention to the unique selling points. Regardless of how perfect a given website might seem to be, it should not be used as a tool for replacement of a particular shopping experience in the context of a supermarket. Generally, the weak UK retail economy coupled with the slow growth in the high street retail sales have created a difficult climate for investment in the town centres and new shopping centre development particularly within the last 5 years. However, some forecasters have predicted that real increases may go to the multi channel retailers who combine their brick and mortar retail stores with online commerce. Additionally, retailers are adapting to the current challenging economic environments. Another important emerging trend is the changing consumer shopping patterns particularly due to the impact of the growing online retails and e-commerce. According to numerous statistics, the average internet sales in the UK have substantially increased over the past few years. This is particularly attributed to the fact that many shoppers are increasingly shifting towards shopping in the comfort of their homes via mobile handheld devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops rather than shopping from high street stores. Although the current forecasts for the future growth of internet sales markedly vary, many researchers concur that nearly 4 out of every 10 high street shops are likely to close due to increased competition from online businesses. On the other hand, the growth of online shopping that is set to accelerate in the coming years is another critical trend in the high street retail industry. Over the past decade, many consumers have adopted the use of modern digital and mobile technologies and their preferences and attitudes have significantly changed (Portas, ‎2011, p.10). For example, people are currently going for online shopping because offer them greater choice at the expense of high street retails. As a result, people are now making fewer trips to the town centres for their shopping needs and this is likely to continue in the future. Additionally, there has been steady shift in terms of retail activity towards larger destination retail stores because they offer more choice compared to the smaller high street retails (Wrigley, 2011, p.46). Despite the existing and emerging challenges in the high street retail industry, there are a number of opportunities in the future. For example, some businesses have responded to the challenge of growing online shopping by adopting modern technology and offering Click and Collect services whereby customers are able to order their products online and then collect them from the local high street retail stores at their own convenience. Many researchers concur that one way to solve this would be to ensure high street retail businesses are able to embrace modern interactive technologies in order to make an appropriate balance between the online channels and the traditional high street retail businesses. According to Gransby (1998, p. 88), this strategy not only offers an opportunity for overcoming the challenges of high street retail businesses, but it also solves the current weakness of online shopping which is that goods are sometimes delivered to the customers when they are not at home. Additionally, even with the rapid internet growth, there are a number of ways through which the digital technologies can be used to improve high street retailing and overcome the challenges currently facing them. According to Guy and Lord (2003, p.54), this generally means that new imaginative retail development solutions such as floor space designs can effectively be used to improve the contemporary high street retail businesses and prevent further diversion of trade to the out of the town centre locations. For example, the layout of the shops can be redesigned with careful justification and consideration in order to improve the attractiveness of the new business investments. According to many experts, the success of the future town centre retails lies in better understanding of the customers and providing them with innovative personalized interactions and products. With the current advances in digital technologies, the future of high street retail lies in retailers combining digital technology with their traditional high street retails to enhance the attractiveness of their in store environment, improve shopping experience and attract more customers (Berry, 2010, p.155). Design is one of the tools that are increasingly being used to solve the current crisis and revitalise our high streets. For example, Waitrose and Tesco are some of the British companies to adopt a multichannel mode of business and integrate the use of interactive technologies to enhance their customer experience. Proposed Design Strategy: Case of Caterpillar Gift Shop The proposed design strategy is particularly focusing in redesigning the interior as well as the floor plan of Caterpillar gift shop through a combined use of digital technology design features and in-store retail strategies. Caterpillar gift shop is a retail shop located in a manufacturing and training center in Desford, Leicestershire, where most products are heavy lifting and handling equipment or machinery. Although the location of the gift shop is relatively far away from the high street, the shop primarily targets the visitors and individuals who visit the company to attend training. The main products currently being sold at the gift shop include Caterpillar footwear, toys, accessories and apparels. Additionally, Caterpillar gift shop also offers online shopping services for customers. However, the shop currently opens only 4 hours in a day due to the lack of customers and workers. Another significant challenge affecting the gift shop is the poor floor and interior design that has resulted in poor circulation and a crowded and messy organization of products in the gift shop. Due to the poor design, customers often have to wait for long hours in the payment queues due to the inefficient payment machine that is currently being used in the shop. Some of the visitors are reluctant to get into the gift shop citing unattractive interior design and the poor packaging of their products. Fig 2: Caterpillar gift Shop Based on the above highlighted problems currently facing Caterpillar gift shop, the proposed redesign and renovation is primarily intended to revitalize the sales at the retail shop, improve its brand reputation, extend the opening time as well as enhance the customers shopping experience in an innovative way. Floor Plan Redesign The first major part of the design strategy focuses on redesigning the floor plan of Caterpillar gift shop by expanding the shop to the store area to make it more spacious and reduce the problem of congestion. The original poor design of the floor plan and interior of the gist shop resulted in poor circulation contributed to the crowded and messy look of the retail shop, thereby making it unattractive to customers. Apart from the not so conducive floor plan, the visitors to the gift shop and potential customers were also put off by the unappealing organization of products in the retail shop. Lastly, there was a growing need for a major facelift of the gift shop facility to ensure that it marched its brand identity. Fig 3: The Current floor Plan of the gift Shop In the new design, the shop will be expanded towards the store area and the space currently used for toilets and lobby will be redesigned to accommodate the store area. For example, the new spacious floor plan design is more inviting, friendlier and is likely to result in enhanced operational efficiency to both the workers and the customers (Berry, 2010, p.156). Additionally, the proposed expansion is not only expected to solve the problem of congestion by creating more space, but is also likely to bring a new look and feel that fits the image of products being sold thereby attracting more to visitors and customers. Semi-Automated Retail Design Another important element of the new design strategy intended to attract more customers to Caterpillar gift shop and enhance their shopping experience is the incorporation of a semi-automated retail concept into the design to create some form of unattended retail environment which will enhance the operational efficiency of the gift shop with minimal input from the workers. The innovative concept involves the integration of interactive new technologies with digital displays strategically placed at every product section of the retail shop. The automated systems will display a diverse range of information on the products selected by the customer including their prices, materials and size thereby enabling the customers to discover and understand more about the brand and products of the gift shop (Dawson, 2008, p.124). On the other hand, the system will also perform payment processing whereby the customers will be able to make quick, convenient and safe payment by simply using inserting their credit cards in the machine. The proposed semi-automated design will significantly reduce the cost of serving the customers by enabling the staff to remotely control the sales and other operations such as product pricing, inventory and merchandising. Additionally, the interactive semi automated system will also enhance the customers shopping experience by eliminating the long queues at the payment section which previously was a put off to many customers and would be customers. Another important feature of the innovative automated system will be its ability to offer advertisements at the point of purchase. For example, the interactive digital displays will enable the management of the gist retail shop to advertise their branded products on the flat screens, thereby along both the customers and visitors to visualize themselves with the Caterpillar products shown on the “digital showroom”. Lastly and most importantly, the system will help the company to significantly improve accountability by reducing cases of theft and shrinkage and allowing the retailer to remotely control the sales and inventory at the facility (Berry, 2010, p.160). Self service at the Apparel Section The integration of self service in the proposed design will enable customers to serve themselves at the gift shop by picking the apparels of their choice and making payments using the automated systems at the self service kiosk. However, the hanging apparels at the lower shelves are only for display purposes only and the customers will be required to pick their choices on the upper shelves containing packaged apparels. After picking their chosen box, the customers should then pay at the self service kiosks which are equipped with a barcode scanner to detect the goods chosen by the customer. Semi-automated retail at the Footwears Section In the new design, the footwear section will be situated at the centre of the gift shop. This is particularly because Caterpillar gift shop is widely known in the area for its boots and therefore the strategic placement of footwear section at the centre as a way of projecting brand identity. Generally, this section will be redesigned and integrated with automated systems in order to improve and enhance the shopping experience of the customers. The interactive semi-automated system will display the product data on the screens and customers will make payments by entering the code of their selected item into the system. After making the payment, the system will automatically alert the staff and the customer’s product will be delivered to the customer within 5 minutes. Design Outcome One of the major expected design outcomes of the project is an expanded and more spacious floor design as compared to the previous congested space at the gift shop. The first major part of the design strategy focuses on redesigning the floor plan of Caterpillar gift shop by expanding the shop to the store area to make it more spacious and reduce the problem of congestion. As shown in Figure 4 below, the new floor plan design will be more inviting and attractive to the customers. Fig 4: The new spacious floor plan design Another important outcome of the project will be a more attractive and operationally efficient interior design of the gift shop. For example, the semi-automated systems will not only enhance the shoppers experience but will also improve operational efficiency of the gift shop/ Figure 5: Proposed new Interior design with interactive automated Systems Generally, it is expected that the automated systems will also help eliminating the long queues at the payment section while at the same time reducing cases of theft and shrinkage and allowing the retailer to remotely control the sales and inventory at the facility. In the Apparel section, the integration of self service system in the proposed design will improve the shopper experience at the facility by allowing the customers to serve themselves. Payment of goods using the semi automated system will be quick, convenient and safe. Fig 8: Self Service Kiosk with a barcode scanner At the Footwears section, the new design will particularly enhance the brand identity of the shop by ensuring that the footware section is strategically situated at the centre of the gift as shown in the figure below. Fig 8: Semi-automated Footwears Section of the retail shop Conclusion In conclusion, despite some of the emerging challenges to high street retail market such as the growing adoption of e-commerce, there are a number of factors which are likely to impact on the success, strengths, limitations, opportunities and threats to a sustainable high street retail in the near future. Based on the current trends and emerging consumer preferences, the proposed creative design of expanded floor plan and integrated semi automated systems will enable Caterpillar gift shop to create an attractive in store environment and revitalise its sales operations by improving the shopping experience of its customers. References Berry, L. L. 2010. Opportunities for Innovation in the Delivery of Retail Interactive Services. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 24(2), pp.155-167. Dawson, J. A. 2008. Futures for the high street. Geographical Journal 154, pp. 1-12. Gransby, D. M.1998. The coexistence of high street and out-of-town retailing from a retailing perspective. Geographical Journal 154, pp. 13-16. Guy, C. M. & Lord, J. D. 2003. Transformation in the City Centre. Contemporary Issues. London: UCL Press, pp. 88–108. Portas, M. ‎2011. The Portas Review An independent review into the Future of our High Streets. Available at Sherwood, J. 2004. The High Street and the Streets off the High Street. The Buildings of England. Oxfordshire. Penguin Books. pp. 306–311. Wrigley N, 2011. Resilience, Fragility, and Adaptation: new evidence on the Performance of UK high streets during global economic crisis. Environment and Planning 43(10) pp. 37-63 Read More