Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - Page number 56 - September/October 2021

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dan Whytock is Managing Director of DownYourHighStreet. com – a free to join, low commission online marketplace on a mission to create the world’s longest high street by connecting community with commerce and giving the Great British High Street an online presence. DownYourHighStreet. com hosts thousands of products that were previously unavailable online, from hundreds of independent retailers, allowing sellers to create or integrate their online presence saving them time and the costs traditionally associated with establishing a visible online presence. www.downyourhighstreet.com have seen incomes drop, others have seen their disposable incomes increase. No commuting and far fewer visits to pubs, restaurants and cinemas has boosted many bank balances. Huge amounts of cash tied up in excess stock is a challenge for many businesses. If that’s you, give some thought to a discounting strategy; many businesses lost out on last year’s Black Friday and the January sales, but customers love a bargain all year round. Back in 1909, Selfridges opened on Oxford Street. Whilst department stores had been around for some time by then, Selfridges made the step change in retail. People could come and buy many different things in one place, saving huge amounts of time. The pandemic accelerated another step change: buying and selling online. And making this move doesn’t have to involve a huge investment. E-commerce platforms, such as Shopify and Wix, are free initially, with fees only due when trial periods end. DownYourHighStreet.com has removed its monthly fee for all new customers; all they pay now is a commission of 15% on sales, with the stipulation that there is a physical ‘high street’ shop as well. DownYourHighStreet can either integrate with the shop’s own website or provide them with the online sales tool they need to compete. REPAY LOYALTY Humans are social animals. We need to interact, and we respond positively to loyalty. Customers enjoy retailers recognising them and providing loyalty benefits, and retailers should appreciate their loyal customers and make a point of keeping them. Loyalty, however, is not an offline-only feature. Online loyalty programmes are provided by many companies, such as HTK. By collecting customer data and combining it with purchase data, retailers can encourage more sales through personalised communication and offers. Despite the tough times, shops are never going to go away, particularly in parts of the retail industry where touch and feel are important to shoppers. When buying online there is an amount of uncertainty about whether something will fit or look as good as it does in the picture, but you can help mitigate this by thinking through your returns policy. Come up with a system that suits you and your customers. The pressures on retailers will be with us for a while, but with the efficiency of the UK’s vaccine rollout signalling a shift in fortunes in the battle with COVID-19, and the opportunities available to adapt and take advantage of people’s willingness to shop online, perhaps we’re close to seeing the end of that darkest of darkness before the dawn. 56