2012 is the year when traditional retail starts to hurt

Photography by johnthurm
Ouch. I spent 10 years in fashion retail before I went into marketing and later into mobile back in 2000. I still have an affinity for the sector, even though it’s very hard work and not very well paid. So it’s with interest that I picked up on Nic Brisbourne’s article http://www.theequitykicker.com/2011/12/20/2012-the-year-when-traditional-retail-really-starts-to-hurt/ . I can believe that this is the case for sure. We’ve already seen the High Street being hit by the double dip recession as well as online competition. And it’s all very well for those of us in the tech world to cheer that clients now need to get their online and mobile offering right. But it’s not quite so simple.
What worries me is that not everyone shops online or ever will shop online or will ever be able to shop online. Their finances, life circumstance or mental acuity may not support them doing that.. There are still many people in this country who work on a cash-only basis. Because that's the only way they can work. But not only that, the High Street is a social lifeline for so many people that it's demise could have devastating effects on community. For some people, the only other human face they see all day could be a local shopkeeper. I know working from home, alone, much of the time, means that that is the case for me. I like popping in to say hello to my local newsagent and buy a bar of chocolate. I recognise the checkout staff at my local, small supermarket and they’re friendly. This is a very nice feeling. I like to be able to really look at a product before I buy it as and when I have the luxury of time to do my shopping. I like to know there are other people out there.
And for these social reasons, now is the time to rethink what the High Street means and how property companies (for they're the ones dictating rents), the council (they dictate the rates) and retail fits into that picture and the community. I would hate to see the demise of my local stores. I'd hate to be restricted to moving my shopping online. I like going to my local town centre to do my shopping. My Mum goes up to town every single day to do her shopping and that's where she bumps into people she knows. If she didn't do that, she mightn't see anyone other than my Dad day in day out. Are you going to deny her that?
At the same time, the people working in the retail sector, at all levels, from cleaner to general manager, need to think about what they have to do to make a visit to their store a positive experience and one that will be repeated. If fashion and electronics are first for the chopping board, then the retail staff have to up their game unless they want to work in a warehouse. It’s not just about pricing, it’s also about product knowledge, effective and efficient customer service and about making it a sociable and rewarding experience.
And of course, we have to recognise the effects of the recession, of austerity measures, of world economies tanking, of ecological concerns over waste. This has effected changes in consumers too. People are shopping much more carefully, thinking about what they buy and thinking what they actually need and will actually use.
I'm all for technology but I believe it should support community and human well-being not destroy it. I love the work that Space Makers have been doing with the regeneration of Brixton Village market and now The Brickbox are doing similar things at my local Tooting Market. But that’s taken hard graft and commitment and a vision. And they’re only at the start of the journey. I wonder if Mary Portas’s recent recommendations, even if implemented well, will be enough http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/retail/high-street-review ? Will people sit up and take notice. Or will the online giants like Amazon clean-up? Or maybe there’s another solution out there that’s just waiting to happen…. ?

Monday morning news

I have a fair few tabs open on my browser, so in an attempt to reduce that number, here are a few Monday morning links for you. Some of the links are mobile, some are not so pick and choose what you see fit!

MIG is innovating with its new PSMS Refund Manager built specifically for the broadcast industry:

"Refund Manager will enable consumers who interact with mobile competitions or votes, outside the campaign timeframe, to self-serve refunds. The product has been designed specifically in-line with PhonepayPlus regulations to give broadcasters the confidence, and the toolset, to run fully compliant premium rate mobile interactive services."

VentureBeat reported yesterday that venture firm EDF is attempting to take legal action against an entrepreneur who left a negative comment about them on VC review site The Funded. The entrepreneur advised against dealing with EDF ‘unless you are desperate’. What a dumb move. [via The Equity Kicker]

 Jemima Gibbons' take on my Friday favourite, The Tuttle Club. We hang out at The Coach and Horses on Friday mornings in London's Greek Street and I'm proud to tell you that I was at the very first Tuttle and am thrilled to see how it's growing. Brighton Tuttle had its first event on Saturday and it looks like Birmingham will be following suit soon too. More on the Tuttle Blog if you're interested.

Vision Mobile has come up with a 'who's who in mobile' chart. If you're interested in understanding how the mobile industry works, then this chart is probably worth a look.

Technokitten pal, Lisa Devaney, kindly includes me in her list of 'other media people' as a response to The Guardian's Top 100 list. She compiles an interesting list.

Microsoft spoofs the ad business - and does it rather well!

Technorati Tags: mobile,psms,Tuttle

Text message storage from O2... but not until May

I've been reading about O2 opening up its Bluebook for its customers over at 160 Characters. The bluebook account offers 1000 MB of storage space for important text messages, pictures or video clips. Photos taken from cameraphones can optionally be opened up to be viewed online by others (I'm guessing flickr or moblog stylee) and also sent directly to Kodak for printing. The service launched on the 11th January and to begin with, users must send in their content back to the server using a free shortcode 40202.

In the next phase in May, messages will automatically be cached which I think is great. I'd love to be able to get my messages either as an email or some kind of online store so that I can search them from time to time. Often there are phone numbers to be retrieved, or simply text messages you want to treasure (like the service currently offered by treasuremytext). In addition, in this next phase, customers will be able to store their contacts and other blogging features will be incorporated. I was initially skeptical of this, but actually, O2 has done a pretty good job, by all accounts, of LookAtMeTV which is another of their community efforts.

Of course, you can already store your contacts online for free at Zyb and also that's an additional benefit if you download Shozu to your phone so you don't *need* to switch to O2 to get the service. Oh and did I mention, Shozu and Zyb are also free? There is also a new kid on the block for mobile storage and that's Mobyko which seems to me to do the same as Zyb. Mobyko claims an ability to store your texts, pictures and videos, but you have to send them on to a long number so there's a cost to send so it's not really a full syncing service. Still, it was as fast as Zyb so worth a try.

Still, at least this is progress (albeit, I've been backing up my phone book on Shozu and Zyb for some time now). But I love the idea of AUTOMATICALLY storing your messages - that's a definite plus factor for me. So come on T-Mobile. If O2 can do it, so can you. Instead you have an incredibly difficult log-in process, that's so tricky and archaic (if you don't log in correctly, they have to send you your password by post), I've NEVER actually managed to log in to it despite being a customer for 5 years or more! So it *could* be quite a leap for T-Mobile to do something like this. I live in hope!