Graham Soult
Retail consultant and high street champion. Providing retail insight and digital marketing through my consultancy business CannyInsights.com. Also a Director of Durham Business Group and a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (IPM).
Old RW profile at https://www.retail-week.com/graham-soult/97490.publicprofile
11 comments By Graham Soult
Nice quote from the Sephora CEO there:
"Boring retail is dead, but exciting retail is alive and really thriving."
It certainly seemed that way when the Newcastle and Metrocentre stores opened! The crowds were crazy.You know a business has lost its way when a story about its £1bn loss mentions that the new CEO has "sought to put the customer at the heart of the business".
I wish the turnaround well, but a retailer should never get to a point where the customer is *not* at its heart.See you tomorrow!
It's worth reiterating that the Next Beauty & Home at Metrocentre only occupies the ground floor of the ex-Debenhams, so it was always likely something else would eventually come in and take the first floor as well. Additionally, it's never really had the air of a permanent occupant, with the escalator bank hoarded off, the Debenhams flooring retained, and a broken shutter at the mall entrance for months.
That still leaves Debenhams' former second floor that will presumably remain surplus to requirements even after Frasers Group moves in!The one thing none of the coverage of this story seems to have addressed is whether House of Fraser will still be a part of the building or not! I assume the lack of clarity is because we don't entirely know yet?
I've been impressed by White so far. She seems to be striking the right balance of not being afraid to make bold changes, while never losing sight of what JLP's essence is.
Too often, bosses do the first and mess up the second. Or, keep the latter, but dither on the former.A really interesting article, with lots of excellent ideas. There's clearly a recurring theme, too: offer customers experiences rather than stuff - in other words, make a virtue of the bricks-and-mortar shop by offering things that can only happen in a physical space. The question, as ever, is whether these old retailers, with enormous legacy estates, have the resources or the focus to see through the kind of reinvention you're suggesting? Plenty of retailers, like M&S, know the kind of changes they need to make, but struggle to implement them beyond a handful of "flagship" or "concept" stores.
Good points here, John. I think the confused offer and brand is a factor, too. Over the last few years, the company has variously traded stores as Discount UK, Bargain Buys, Poundworld Express, Poundworld Plus, Poundworld Extra, and just plain Poundworld, sometimes under a dual pound and multiprice fascia. The shopper can be forgiven for not knowing what to expect from the shops - and definitely for not having a clue whether things will cost £1 or not!
Both lovely people, who have seemed very switched on whenever I've met them. Best of luck to them both in whatever they decide to do next!
Thank you for the mention, George!
Thanks for the info, Chris! It looks like I have a new profile at https://www.retail-week.com/view-my-public-profile, which is separate to the previous one at https://www.retail-week.com/graham-soult/97490.publicprofile that all my old comments are linked to. Is that right?
Commented on: 19 November 2024
Sephora CEO wants to open at least 20 UK stores in the next few years