The Reason for the Season
Posted by:
FSPRetail ,
15 December 2011
Christmas reminds us of the human need for hope. In the depths of winter, our ancestors needed to know that new life would come. We are not fundamentally different. As evidence, the current ads from Coca Cola, “Holidays are Coming”, and John Lewis have been singled out in research as powerfully and positively evoking traditional values of hope.
Does the Mary Portas report provide the necessary positive long-term vision and hope for our industry? Some have dismissed it as typically female, too touchy-feely to be man enough for the task. It is easy to dismiss her recommendations as a pea-shooter in the face of a tsunami. However, her report contains some real clues to the way forward.
The underlying principle is that humans are social creatures. To be healthy, we need to interact with other people. It is the reason why most people live in towns. The Portas report rightly emphasises the need to combine local initiatives with changes to planning and taxation. If town centres are really to be centres for their communities, every one will be different to reflect the individuality of the place. The “Town Teams” proposed by the Portas report will work well in some circumstances and fail horribly elsewhere, but that’s the cost of decentralising responsibility.
The conclusion is therefore that while the individual proposals may be inadequate for the task or even misguided, the under-lying logic is sound.
The decline of the High Street has had a long gestation. We need not be surprised that finding a new role will also take a good while. The Portas review correctly identifies the cause of the decline as the rise of the out-of-town supermarkets that now have a substantial non-food offer to rival the High Street. The supermarkets have been successful because they satisfy shopper needs better than High Streets, and give a better return to the retailers. The challenge is for the High Streets to create an offer and environment that is equally, but differently attractive and for this challenge similarly to be embraced by planning authorities. It will take a long time to establish but that is no reason not to start.
It may also be helpful to set this particular clash within a wider context as described by Martin Luther King Jr., “Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change. … What we need to realise is that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anaemic. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our time.”
Let’s wish all those involved the vision to observe the scale of change required and the strength of will to deliver it.
On that note, may I wish you a very Happy Christmas and a hopeful New Year.
Tags:
GEOFF'S VIEW, RETAILERS, FACTORY OUTLET CENTRES, HIGH STREET