{"id":3378,"date":"2023-11-09T02:34:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T02:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/retailings-failing-everybodys-emailing\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T02:34:55","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T02:34:55","slug":"retailings-failing-everybodys-emailing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/retailings-failing-everybodys-emailing\/","title":{"rendered":"Retailing’s Failing : Everybody’s Emailing??"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0A Sad Farewell In Seaton<\/span><\/p>\n

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Akermans has closed after 211 years of trading in the town.<\/p>\n

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Although the name is still on the step …<\/p>\n

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… the store is now empty.<\/p>\n

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Of course, Akerman did not just mong iron; the helpful staff sold almost anything you could think of from a few screws to a small tile cutter.\n
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If they hadn’t got it, they would advise where to go to get it OR, more often, how to do it differently.<\/div>\n
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Its owner (no longer an Aketman) wanted to retire and nobody wanted to buy the business. There were simply not enough customers.<\/div>\n
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Seaton has another similar emporium, but it is out of the ton centre and parking is often impossible!\n
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Disappointingly, Abbotts shop is tidy and well organised; so probably more efficient for the seasoned user of mongered iron but less enjoyable for the wide-eyed btowser!<\/p><\/div>\n

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M & S Much Smaller<\/span>\n
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Once upon a time Marks and Spencer, which began as a “penny bazaar” in Leeds …<\/p>\n

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… was once the envy of the retail trade. But the great M & S has been going through tough times of late with boss man Stuart Machin …<\/p>\n

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… overseeing a plan for multiple store closures.\n
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But young Stu seems to be getting a result!<\/p>\n

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The numbers certainly look better …<\/p>\n

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Commentators are suggesting that reducing prices<\/span>, improving the product<\/span> range and improving the service by upgrading shops<\/span> have all contributed yo this improvement. But we need to bear in mind that the “improvement” is notably for M & S shareholders and can be seen as achieved to the detriment of many of its loyal customers whose stores are closed or closing.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Bus Travel is a retail business<\/span>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Its aim is to sell a product (bus rides) to its customers\u00a0in order to make a profit for its shareholders<\/span>.<\/div>\n
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It is no different from M&S!<\/div>\n
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REDUCING FARES<\/span><\/div>\n
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To copy M & S, the bus company can reduce its fares. That’s what James Freeman …\n
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… did in Bristol leading to dramatic increases in patronage.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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But there have been no great claims of long term success for an experimental scheme in Wales.\n
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Likewise the delights of the one third reduction in Cornwall ticket prices seems to be fairly minor in terms of increased patronage.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And fares have recently been “revised” …\n
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… upwards, naturally.<\/div>\n
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Obviously there will be no increase in the flat single fare until the end of 2024, but “seasons” are creeping up. Is that a desperate attempt to recoup some of the losses from the funding of the flat fare?<\/p><\/div>\n

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And what happens when the flat fare deal ends.\n

IMPROVING THE PRODUCT<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Bus companies usually seem willing to put better quality vehicles on their busy (and already profitable) routes …\n
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… but Zip’s failure led to luxury appearing on the X97\/X98, hardly a money spinner but the buses had to be employed somewhere.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Often these branding schemes evaoporate; as with Arriva’s Sapphire and Max in many locations.\n
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We have seen that Daventry lost its branded “Darts” over recent years and now the residents get anything with a wheel at each corner to enhance their reduced “improved” service.<\/div>\n
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Many operators seem pathologically incapable of putting branded buses on to the correct branded routes.<\/div>\n
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McGills appear to be doing better than most …\n
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… and, apart from their failure in West Lothian, the company is pushing hard to improve the product and thus attract more passengers.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Generally, however, minor routes are equipped with hand-me-downs! And it is obvious!<\/div>\n
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Ray Stenning (The Bearded Bus Beautifier from the Bush) is always vociferous about the need for quality all round. If the company cannot afford to beatify their buses with a full repaint on secondary routes, they can do a lot with a splodge of sticky-backed plastic!<\/div>\n
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UPGRADING SHOPS<\/span><\/div>\n
The bus industry has used Covid as an excuse to close its shops, as here in Plymouth.\n
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A smaller equivalent of a bus shop is a bus stop. These are fearfully neglected by bus operators hiding behind “that’s the job of the local authority<\/span>“.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A press release from Stuart Machin of M & S???<\/div>\n
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“From January 2024, and to save costs, we will be handing all M & S local publicity to the local authority in the area where the shop sits. The LA will manage all external bill-boards on or near our shops and provide appropriate advertising in the local press. The people live locally, so the local authority is the ideal organisation to continue M & S promotion schemes.”<\/span><\/div>\n

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Even when they do advertise themselves locally, the results are often pitiful from the bus companies. Compare Arriva …\n
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… with McGills!
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And fbb will restrain his venom on the subject of printed material<\/span>. But generally it is badly done, if at all.<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n


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Will we ever see bus adverts of this quality?\n
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Probably never – but printed material is cheap!\u00a0<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n


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Even “it’s all on line” Stagecoach have managed an excellent leaflet for the 65 between Sheffield and Buxton.\n
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It has an excellent map plus good stuff about places to go?<\/p>\n

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But, oh deary deary me, none of it appears on the company web site!<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n


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With very few exceptions, bus operators simply do not make even a feeble attempt to SELL their product.<\/span><\/div>\n

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But then\u00a0 …<\/span><\/div>\n

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it’<\/span>s all on line<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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… as we shall see tomorrow; bus companies web sites versus M & S web site.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0Next Retailing Failing blog : Friday 10th Nov\u00a0<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0A Sad Farewell In Seaton Akermans has closed after 211 years of trading in the town. Although the name is still on the step … … the store is now empty. Of course, Akerman did not just mong iron; the helpful staff sold almost anything you could think of from a few screws to a small tile cutter. If they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}