Retail collapse or changing consumer habits?

Another major retail chain collapsed in the UK last week with very little hope of revival. Jessops, a specialist camera and photo retailer was forced to call in the administrators , bringing down the curtain on  a business that had traded since 1935. With it went the loss of  hundreds of jobs and 187 stores. A week later the struggling music retailer HMW finally through in the towel with substantial debts.  
A week later  Blockbuster announced it was closing 100 plus stores citing changing consumer habits and falling dvd rentals as reasons for closure.

The usual press releases talk of a difficult economic situation, a weak December trading, falling spend in the UK to name but a few reasons. Yet spending on such consumer goods such as cameras, music and DVDs has altered so dramatically over the past 10 years , that it is inevitable that these business models were bound to be destined for the scrap heap. So what do traditional bricks and mortar retailers do , other than throwing in the towel?

Interestingly the general public hasn't quite given up on the traditional high street just yet. Whilst habits are changing fast, with more and more consumers choosing to click their way through a retailers online offering, rather than traipsing down to the local stores, there is still a large majority of us who enjoy the concept of a "day out" shopping with Friends and families. It is this experience shopping that most traditional retailers haven't quite cottoned onto, but that could mean the difference between survival and financial collapse.

"Experience Shopping" is a term I loosely define as the ability to generate a number of "feel good factors " from a combination of entertainment and shopping experiences , that connects the consumer with a particular store or brand.. The experience must deliver a set of  products as well as unique experience if its own, in order to deemed a success.

 It is up to retailers to recognise that to draw consumers into a retail establishment when the option of buying such goods online is a mere click away, requires the need for an additional value add that makes the trip "worthwhile" in the eye of the consumer. So for example, a large bookstore chain such as Waterstones (www.waterstones.com) , that seems to have struggled to compete against the likes of Amazon(www.amazon.co.uk)  in the past few years, has readjusted its store experience to incorporate book clubs, story telling and author book signing events into its portfolio , in order to entice shoppers into its stores. It also offers online book downloads to compete with the likes of amazons kindle experience.

So whilst some traditional retailers are firmly making changes where required, others still have to grasp the reality of competing with online retail or close shop forever. This includes defining the entire customer experience from start to finish , with particular emphasis on understanding the entertainment and feel good value of a day out shoppping. Without recognising these physiological and pscychological factors, traditional retailers will struggle to survive the next decade.