BUCKET LIST RETAIL - WHY D2C BRANDS ARE BEATING BRICKS-AND-MORTAR RETAILERS AT THEIR OWN GAME.

One thing I’ve discovered about myself during these last 9 months, is that is that a total lockdown of society has had little impact on my fairly substantial shopping habit. There’s never been a Death of the High Street in my experience as a lifelong shopaholic, but the fallout from Covid-19 has hammered yet another nail firmly in the coffin of bricks-and-mortar retail. The recent demise of Debenhams and the once all-conquering Top Shop are clear evidence of this. So could this really be the end of the Great British High Street?

Rewind 20 years and for any committed consumer the weekly pilgrimage to the shops was sacrosanct in order to get your fashion ‘fix’. Indeed, this was your only outlet and convenience was measured in the distance from the car park to the shops. If you wanted the perfect dress for that particular night out, then you had to (quite happily) go into town to trawl through rail upon rail to seek it out. Now, the trawl is done in the palm of your hand, from the comfort of your sofa and the click of a button.

And this is fundamentally the issue for bricks-and-mortar retail. The business model for high street retail is now completely at odds with the D2C model. Consumers have always wanted variety and choice, but in the past, this translated to square footage – with retailers scaling up and competing to have bigger stores on the high street. Back then, size was everything and the ‘flagship’ store was the jewel in the crown of the brand and a mecca for its consumers. Online shopping has changed all that. D2C brands can provide scale and speed, offering huge choice and high turnover without the sizable rental and rates bills that used to go with it.

But it’s not just the commercials that stack up against the bricks-and-mortar retail model; D2C brands also provide a one-to-one conversation with their consumers and an opportunity to tell their story, offer opinion and have real meaning behind just blind consumption. D2C brands, on the whole, are narrow – their target audience tends to be more niche – which allows a relationship of sorts, one which can be nurtured by insightful brands who offer, not just a passive sale, but a pleasurable experience. This isn’t about mass marketing, it’s about having a total understanding of, and focus on, your consumer and delivering content, as well as product, that’s relevant, meaningful and consistent with their own beliefs; all wrapped up in a curated and considered experience.

And here’s where the high street can take note and where, I believe, the opportunity for salvation lies. It’s always been about the ‘experience’ for committed consumers like me, not just about convenience. The difference has been that D2C brands made the experience the focus of their offer and high street brands have been unable, or reluctant, to keep up and to evolve. Their idea of the customer experience has been a bit of background music and some billboards of supermodels who look a whole lot better in the product than you ever will. And what’s more, D2C brands are now beating the high street at their own game; and that game is all about being better, not bigger. It’s all about the (brand) experience.

Take uber D2C brand, Glossier for example. It’s mantra - Skin first, Make up second, Smile always - struck a chord with young women everywhere and its signature pastel pink palate, conversational copy and use of ‘real’ women in its campaigns set it apart from its overly-made up and highly polished competitors. It wasn’t just selling makeup, it was empowering women and promoting personal positivity. So when the brand decided to create a pop up shop in New York, they didn’t just build a store, they curated a multi-sensory, magical Glossier experience that was a real world extension of their online brand world. In line with its brand ethos, the store wasn’t made to be mass market, it was designed to engage on a one-to-one level with its fans who were more than happy to queue to interact with their favourite brand and share their experiences via their own social platforms.

The success of the New York pop-up saw it become a permanent fixture, and now the brand has several more ‘destination’ stores around the world. These aren’t simply a carbon-copy roll out of the New York store, each is a reflection not only of the brand, but an interpretation of its environment that incorporates some of that particular consumer culture within the experience. This approach isn’t traditional bricks-and-mortar retail, it’s bucket-list retail. 

Traditional retailers take note. The high street isn’t dead, it’s just in need of a renaissance. Online is not going away, it’s the future of retail and brands that want to be a part of that future need to put their online presence at the very heart of their business model. For those who are too big to turn the ship around and scale down, offer better, more nuanced and targeted experiences that are an extension of their brand message and which are tailored to the individual, not the mass, the future could be uncertain. For those willing and able to make substantial changes, there’s plenty of people out there who still want some real life in their retail experience. For them, if the destination is good enough, then the journey from the sofa to the store will be well worth it.