Shop local for life
By Kathy Kyle Bonomini, Co-Founder
PWC has recently released the latest report that should send anyone who works on high-street issues to their nearest laptop.
If you aren’t integrating digital into your business model in some way: online transactions, frictionless transactions, order ahead take aways, omnichannel integrated marketing and social media, an online shop, I’m afraid there are tough times ahead. Every business must start thinking about creating a customer ecosystem, a complete customer journey, and how to reach us at every touch point.
Nearly half of your audience uses digital communications tools to communicate on a daily basis. 60 percent of the world uses social media and on average, a person has 8 social media accounts – each, spending an average of two and a half hours using social media per day. And businesses who turn their customers into brand evangelists increase revenue and foot traffic to their shops.
When I worked on the Dorking Business Improvement District engagement in 2019, Dorking’s high street had been ranked fourth best high street in the U.K. by the Telegraph. One might ask what the requirements are for such a distinction: to start, it is due in part to the prevalence of local, independent businesses; its proximity to London; its cultural, tourism, and historic offerings; and its beautiful natural surroundings. Taken together, these elements make the town a wonderful place to live, work and visit, and most importantly to the Telegraph article, drive up the property value.
Covid-19 has dramatically accelerated what has already been happening to the high street for quite some time. However savvy businesses are shifting their approach to market forces. Not only must they build e-commerce sites and implement social media strategies to complement their bricks and mortar presence, they must also think about offering digital workshops, link up their back office functions with point of sale, but they must begin to rapidly digitise mobile shopping, payment and rewards systems. Other towns are keeping their currency local by implementing (branded) digital currency, as noted by my colleague David Worsell in this piece originally published in Tech UK.
But what does digital transformation mean in practice for a high street business, and why should you do it? It is different for every business and I think this process should begin with establishing what your goals are. Do you want to drive footfall to your shop or do you want to offer (and manage) your stock online? Do you want to offer order-ahead and take-away coffees? Do you want to offer workshops online and create an online booking system? Or maybe frictionless transactions?
Independent shop owners tend to invest and then put that money back into the local community. Shop keepers frequent local pubs and restaurants, grocery shops and hair salons, cafes and professional services. They circulate customers’ money back into the local economy, enabling communities to thrive.
Independents are also the largest employer of jobs nationally and provide the most local jobs in communities. Local employers are also more likely to pay higher wages and encourage employee and customer loyalty. Increasing the number of jobs, especially in a recession, helps to enhance the community as a place to live and work and creates a healthier economy for everyone.
This is why it is so important to shop locally when we can. And even more important for our shops to integrate digital into their approaches where they can. It is a symbiotic relationship that enables businesses, customers and communities to thrive, together.
