Retail parks need to up their game
Published: 26 April, 2010
Howard Morgan, managing director of RealService - the real estate customer service specialist - questions the relevance of retail parks when cheaper items are available online.
If you’ve ever experienced the combined sense of pride and fear that you get when your daughter passes her driving test you’ll know why buying her a sat-nav seemed such a good idea. A leisurely Saturday afternoon father-daughter bonding at our local retail park seemed the best solution. How wrong I was!
Firstly, the three mile trip took 30 minutes on roads virtually grid-locked with shopper traffic. Once in store, we stumbled across a confusing display of sat-nav units - but you couldn’t ‘play’ with any of them and there was no immediate help.
When assistance finally arrived we explored the options and made our choice. But what about the price? With iPhone in hand I did a quick price check with other retailers and the web. My suggestion to the sales assistant that retailers provide a computer in-store to enable customers to price compare was met with the observation - “Before long I’ll be replaced by a robot”. So much for listening to customer feedback.
It emerged that we could get the same unit £10 cheaper down the road and £25 cheaper at Amazon!
The experience got me thinking: What’s the point of the average retail warehouse shed? Why would anyone choose to shop there rather than shop online? The answer should be four-fold: Service, Choice, Value and Convenience. But judging by our experience, retail parks are falling short on all counts.
