The Current Economic Climate

Shopping can and should be about more than just price or convenience. Moreover, for high street and main street retailer, concentrating only on price means losing the opportunity to build genuine brand loyalty or give shoppers a reason to enjoy their visit.

In Nightingale Square, a small run down ‘mom & pop’ grocery store, a newly updated/built Downtown Store. I noticed many vehicles parked on the streets and residents walking the streets.

5.) Changes with “interest rates, rates of economic growth, fiscal and monetary policies of the government, inflation, deflation, consumer credit availability, consumer debt levels, tax rates and policy, unemployment trends, oil prices, and other matters that influence the availability and cost of merchandise, consumer confidence, spending and tourism could adversely impact the Company’s business and results of operations” (macysinc.com, pg.78).

The retail industry is saturated with substitutes, in part to low entry barriers. Online shopping and small boutiques stocking similar lines, brand names and designs provide David Jones potential customers with many substitutes. It is the David Jones experience that cannot be substituted; shopping in a large, upmarket department store. For the sector, substitutes are low.

Companies are growing by bringing in new stores to new locations rather than come up with innovation in the terms of bringing the products to the consumer. As written in business insights, the industry is recession proof but personally we believe that the companies’ sales are

Store’s future strategy: This store was said out-dated and catered to old people. Although the store had tried some promotions to attract younger customers, McGregor felt they had not been entirely successful. So they need to be catered to younger people as well.

Online stores are growing in popularity and drawing attention. Because of this, other retail stores are losing that attention and business. Some major stores include Sears, Radio Shack, JCPenney, Macy’s, Payless ShoeSource, Dillards and more. These are called brick-and-mortar stores. According to www.merriam-webster.com the definition of a brick-and-mortar store is, “a traditional business serving customers in a building as contrasted to an online business” (Brick-and-mortar, n.d.). “It’s possible more than 8,600 brick-and-mortar stores will close their doors in 2017 (…) JCPenney announced plans to shutter 138 stores by July, Payless ShoeSource is closing hundreds of stores, and Macy's said it's shutting down 68 locations” (Wattles, 2017). What a shame to lose these resources and businesses, especially for those who support and appreciate the local retail option.

Rue 21 is one of the many retailers that are geared towards teens, however what set them apart from the rest is their affordability. This company strives to keep all of its merchandise under 35 dollars. Rue 21 has locations in various strip malls with 52 percent, regional mall 31 percent and outlet centers 17 there are pros and cons that affect the company for each of them (Berman, 2009). Having this store in a strip center can be a really great thing for consumers put not such a positive thing for the company as a whole. The positive to a strip mall is that it is easily accessible for customers to find and shop at the location. Strip malls have less congestion when it comes to parking, which makes for a more pleasurable for shoppers like

River Island is one of the most popular brands on the high street in the UK and it is in the fashion retailing business. Estimating total retail market size around five percent of the Britain’s economy and it employs around ten percent of the total workforce in the UK as per UK Trade & Investment, (2014). However, time is crucial for the companies on high street, because of declining rate of profit. The occurrence of this phenomena is the result of too many stores on the high street and weak customer spending. Weak customer spending is the result of use of latest technology by customers to buy the products (Bamfield, 2013). Therefore,

‘We aim to return the UK High Street Retail business to its role as Britain's most popular stationer, bookseller and newsagent … Our plans encompass improved efficiency through cost savings and margin enhancement, while rebuilding the competitiveness and depth of our product ranges.' (Ms Swann BBC, July 2005)

Since the global financial downturn in late 2008, retailing has since delivered negative growth. Employment within the sector, the ‘second largest single employer within Australia’, also fell by 6% in 2009. Fashion retailers are continually at the mercy of consumer spending especially during economic downturns. In fact, the fashion industry in 2009 delivered a negative sales turnover of –1.9%. Not surprisingly, department store sales also plummeted to –3.5%.

But when accounting for the approximate 295,000 jobs that have been lost at brick-and-mortar stores, ILSR maintains that Amazon was responsible for the disappearance of almost 149,000 jobs by the end of 2015.” (Kaye 1) This consequently brings down aggregate demand. If there is high unemployment then consumption will go down, and if consumption goes down then investment will go down also. As you can see this will have a horrible effect on the economy if this continues.

Also, shopping mall popularity is shrinking, with some retailers focusing on and consumers preferring stand-alone locations similar to Kohl’s. Over the

At 4:30 p.m. on December 6, 2010, Meredith Collins, VP of Marketing for Reed Supermarkets, walked down the sidewalk of the 10-store strip mall that housed Reed’s Westgate Plaza branch in Columbus, Ohio. Collins didn’t shop; instead she took mental notes about store traffic, first at the Reed store and then at an indirect but increasingly worrisome kind of competitor—a dollar store. The Reed was predictably well lit and inviting, and Collins could see three registers open and two or three customers in line at each. “Not too bad” she thought, “but not what I would hope for at this time of day, this close to the holidays.” She’d felt the same way at two other Reeds

Hand in hand with a recession goes unemployment. Due to the severity of the slowdown the telegraph.com forecasted 100,000 – 145,000 jobs were lost in 2009 within the retail industry in Britain. Using PESTLE highlights the need for retail organisations to implement increased scrutiny on employment law as the number of unfair dismissal cases being brought forward have risen. As reported in the Acas annual report 2009/2010: