How can clothes stores survive (and thrive)?

[thisenglishlife]

Especially as bricks and mortar shops

• Better quality and less man made fabrics, especially with wardrobe essentials/basics
• Not charging too much for polyester
• Designing more for that store's typical customer - for example, the young and trendy Zara/Topshop crowd aren't going to switch to M&S
• More stock and range of sizes (and re-ordering popular sizes)
• More consistent sizing
• Fewer over embellished items and items that don't suit anyone but the very young and thin
• Keeping seasonal stock (but also out of season for those going on holiday). I've seen coats in August and in Jan/February, coats disappearing and warm weather taking over.
• Taking on board feedback from long term staff (especially those on the floor and those who I have worked their way up) and customers
• Fewer graduates going straight into management without real life/retail experience
• How effective is advertising and marketing? Would the money be spent well elsewhere?
• More manufacturing in the UK/Western Europe (not possible in the cheap and cheerful shops but could be for department stores and higher end of the High Street)

Good idea for a thread. I'm trying to use real shops - and ideally independent ones - more often. What draws me to a shop is:

A clear visual identity. Don't try and be all things to all women - there's no point, not now we've got the internet at our fingertips.

Think about the interior: layout, colour, displays, windows, etc. Entice us inside and then make us want to spend time there.

Use the displays to show how the clothes can be worn together - interesting combinations that we might not have thought of.

Good lighting and mirrors.

Personal customer service, especially if you're a local shop. Get to know your customers and what they like.

Offer an alterations service. (Doesn't have to be free).

A decent toy box. (I don't need one any more but 15 years ago, any shop with one would have had my loyal custom.

Be near a decent coffee shop.

Hmm ... I do wonder if anything short of global catastrophe and loss of the Internet would temp me back to regularly shopping in concrete stores.

All the difficulties you list in your OP: quality, range, sizing, seasonality can be navigated almost effortlessly by shopping online. I don’t encounter poor quality, unreliable sizing, limited ranges - I do spend a fair amount of time keeping up to date with what’s available from places I’ve used before and new sources. Generally I order from within Europe, (including the U.K. of course) but I browse several sites further afield and then check if an item is also available closer.

I honestly think shopping the palm of my hand has changed my brain. Once in a while I wander into a real shop - but I almost never feel tempted to buy there now. Maybe I don’t trust the shop to carry as wide a range as the website, maybe I’m addicted to the rush of anticipation (and weeping frustration over couriers?), dunno ...

Have you noticed how dim lighting has become in shops? In some I struggle to see the colours (navy / black maybe) it’s hardly welcoming and actually quite depressing.

A lot of shops also have a lack of staff, I’ve had to go and find people to pay many times - unmanned tills are obviously off putting.

Seating in fitting rooms, it’s so important to see if trousers ride up or skirts bunch when you’re seated.

Great ideas @Floisme

Sorry, I am not going back to shops unless experiences (eg Selfridges). The stuff they sell isn’t nice enough to stop me buying everything on the internet and trying it on in private without a salesperson judging or pressuring me.

Hmm I may be in a minority but I've seriously gone off online shopping. At best it serves its purpose but I find it joyless. And I've really started to resent paying upfront to try things on - it makes me feel I'm being played. On the other hand I find a good shop, run by someone who knows their product (and better still who knows what I like) can be a truly pleasurable experience in its own right.

Admittedly I no longer have care responsibilities so more time to enjoy them.

Interesting ...

I find I like clothes and it’s something of a relief to be able to get to them without having to interact with an intermediary person.

Cheap shop - generally uninterested staff. Expensive shop - crushing desire to prove I have good reason to be there.
Result, in either case, exit with a pain in my soul.

Anyway, the most enjoyable time for shopping is between midnight and 2.59am ...

Make it easy to get in there with a buggy
Don’t cram too much in
Good fitting rooms
Don’t be too hot, too loud
Decent mirrors on the shop floor as well as fitting rooms

I am also trying to buy more in real shops. Internet shopping IS joyless.. paying upfront is something I hate and I hate returning and having to wait for the cash to get refunded!

Free town parking.
Being able to order something in store, try it on when it arrives & THEN pay for it if it’s suitable & fits stead of having to pay up front to have it delivered to store.

I was a huge internet shopper but have gone of it a bit. Find Im spending too much time waiting for parcels, packing up, refunding etc. Currently I'm waiting for 2 deliveries, 1 has been packed late, the other I suspect is lost. I need to return a different package as it was a new brand so unsure of my shoe size. I also need to chase up a refund from something I sent back weeks ago.

I also find my choice is narrowed as it's harder to find new brands & Im less reluctant to spend p&p/time on brands where I don't know my size/quality.

Free & available parking is a big one I think as it encourages people into the town centres.

I used to work in buying & merchandising & it's impossible for bricks & mortar to compete with online, even their own online offer.

In terms of quality it has definitely gone down but this is because the cost of manufacturing, currency changes & the materials has gone up. Shops are reluctant to raise prices in order to achieve the same margins as a lot of the high street thrives on fast fashion, high turnover of product etc.

I have noticed that when I was younger stores had their own identities eg Miss Selfridge was feminine, bohemian & Oasis was more conservative, tailored etc but now the shops all have exactly the same stock & if you don't like cold shouldered tops well there's not much alternative.

I'm not sure anything can truly save the high street to be honest. I'm plus sized so am forced to shop online anyway (my bee look recently removed the pitiful curve section for a bigger petite section).

I'm convinced the only thing keeping our high street going is the fact that Primark is not sold online.

Manufacturing in the UK even leather shoes from Portugal & Spain is very expensive now so the RRP will be high, think Russell & Bromley. 10 years ago you would find Brazilian made shoes on the high street but way too expensive now. Even China & Vietnam are much more expensive than they used to be.

Marketing & advertising is essential particularly for online brands just look at Nastygal, Pretty little thing etc otherwise how do you reach customers?

Seasonality is definitely something stores need to address & are trying too but it's very challenging. Historically shops would set their spring stall up after the January sales because customers want newness, but this tends to be at odds with our weather. In the same vein summer tends to be set up for Easter because if we have good weather then you see the shift to that product. A lot of high street shops will place large orders of cold weather stock at least 6 months in advance to get the best prices. Hence why you have the sizing issue too as stock is ordered based on size averages & you will always have more options online as it reaches more customers.

In order to compete for me shops need to be clean, tidy with knowledgeable staff offering an experience but I'm in my 30s & prefer quality over quantity so I don't even know if the high street is interested in targeting me anymore.

True about Primark.

Thinking about it, the only shops I visit (admittedly perhaps two or three times a year each) with the intention of buying are Primark, for underwear and throwaway pyjamas, and TK Maxx for an astonishing array of ‘designer’ brands at friendly prices. I find the randomness is part of the fun - my patience has been rewarded, over the years, with glorious items from Chloe, Margiela, Rochas, Calvin Klein, which I could never have considered (or even seen) at their original prices.

Long length tops (Why are these so rare, where long length trousers are fairly standard).
Size 9 ladies shoes. Actual 43 size 9, that are properly proportioned, not size 8s that are -a bit longer)
Non tapered trousers (I have really big calf muscles, anything skinny does not come past my ankles)

I agree with most of above and allow me to add “free toilets” into the mix. One of the high street’s problems here is that people go to malls outside the city centre and sure, people who HAVE to drive EVERYWHERE might find it easier and a deciding factor that there is plenty of free parking but I am convinced that the fact that all malls/shopping centres come with free toilets is a big part of it too - it’s just that people don’t realise that. I can’t focus on shopping if I have to go for a wee.

I don’t find online shopping particularly convenient. Brands don’t give proper or correct measurements so sizes are a guess. I have to pay upfront sometimes (Klarna is working out for me there tbf). Then the parcel arrives and doesn’t go through the letterbox so I have to go and collect it and “my” post office is off in an inconvenient direction so it’s always a special little trip. Then I go home and try it on, and it fits badly or just isn’t what I expected. So I have to go through a return process, sometimes having to print out labels myself. A lot of rigmarole for something that takes ten minutes in a shop.

@BikeRunSki it's because shops buy what sells. size 5 & 6 are the most popular shoe sizes so even the shops that go up to a size 9 will have a small selection as they won't sell what they buy. They are also more expensive to produce (more material) but unlike kids clothes or tights shops charge the same price for a size 4 shoe as a size 9.

I'm tall & used to find it so annoying that I could buy jeans easily but never dresses but ime the dresses in the tall sections never sold that well.

I realise that @stopshoutingd, but I am certainly not alone, and it makes my life very difficult. I am a civil engineer and spend a lot of time in safety boots. Sometimes I wonder if my career was driven by my lack of choice for formal shoes!

They are not cheap but Russell & Bromley probably offers the best selection for a size 9. I shop there a lot because I'm a 6.5 due to width & half sizes are so rare.

Decent and clean fitting rooms, and staff who understand their job is to sell clothes, not treat each customer as a potential shoplifter.

M&S Oxford St flagship is a great example - you queue for ages to use a dirty, poorly lit changing room, and do battle with the attendants who are more interested in ensuring you never have more than 6 items than whether you have got the right size, colour etc. Also more hooks in fitting rooms, in winter you need to hang a coat, jeans, handbag etc plus the stuff you’re trying on - two hooks doesn’t cut it.

And that’s why I buy loads from John Lewis, deliver to Waitrose, and try on in the comfort of my own home.

I actually use Klarna sometimes because I like being able to buy lots & not have to worry re chasing for refunds. However I think soon the big shops may charge for returns as it's not cost effective re logistics & repacking etc and I know Asos don't like big orders & returns anymore.

It’s a tricky one, because once you’ve got used to the clicky convenience of browsing and shopping online, physical shopping seems so exhausting and long winded.

I only really shop in department stores now, if I’m going offline. That’s because I can get lots of brands and styles in one place and try them on in the same changing room, rather than traipsing from shop to shop where I might find only one thing I want to try on in each (time consuming, tiring).

I just don’t know what could tempt me back to trailing down Oxford St, spending maybe half a day to look in the shops and try stuff on.

I very rarely by clothes on line (shoes never) because of comfort and fit. Can’t be arsed sending parcels back all the time. Much prefer actual shops

Topshop has a good selection of size 9s online.

I'm another who rarely buys clothes or shoes online. On the few occasions I have I've usually had to send them back because they sizing was wrong.

I agree with stopshoutingd, it would help if shops were more distinct. They all seem to sell pretty much the same thing.