What can our high streets learn from airports?

Three years on from the pandemic, the retail sector is still feeling the impact of huge cultural shift in consumer behaviour, which is reflected in recent figures from the British Retail Consortium. The data shows that overall UK footfall is up 10% on the same time last year, but still 8.8% lower than pre-pandemic levels – and with the cost-of-living crisis continuing to impact demand, overall footfall was down in February 2023 compared to the previous month.

When the British Retail Consortium data is examined on a closer level, we can see the importance of regionality too. Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England all saw different changes in their footfall levels, with the increase in Wales being 3% higher than England. Differences will certainly be seen down to county, borough and town level too.

Challenge-led solutions

However, even before the pandemic, changes were happening in the retail sector. With the rise of online consumerism and direct to door delivery, customers are requesting more from the high street, with brands responding by re-imagining the physical store offering.

Now more than ever, experience is king across many sectors. For retailers, creating unique and memorable experiences should be a central consideration for developing an offering that becomes a destination, one that encourages people to spend both their time and their money with enjoyment and without stress.

We are pleased to have worked with major retail brands for several years, with our team providing a national programme of store improvements for Selfridges to help it with continuous enhancement of the customer experience.

Selfridges truly led the field in experiential shopping, born from a true understanding that its customers and placing it central to its philosophy. People don’t simply go to Selfridges to carry out a transaction and store design reflects this, providing pathways and unique, iconic offerings to delight customers.

For example, FAO Schwarz holds a flagship European concession within the toy department on the fourth floor of the Oxford Road store. This position creates an iconic brand destination within an iconic brand destination, drawing footfall up through the building effectively. It also coordinates especially effectively with the bigger store picture, such as the sit-down food spaces that benefit from more footfall through providing a family-appropriate space close to the toy department itself.

This customer-based philosophy was one of the most important parts for us developing a clear programme of works across a ten-year pipeline, needing careful planning and coordination has been central to ensure no works interfere with stores on both an operational and experiential point of view.

Aviation learnings for high street transformation

The drive for consumer experience is a vision shared by many asset owners too. A recent survey of councils, landlords, developers and other local bodies has found that up to 40% of shops will need to be reinvented into anything from go-kart tracks to food markets over the next five years, or “wither on the vine”.

High streets are facing arguably the biggest challenge of their history, but there are many lessons that can be taken from other sectors, including aviation, which is a focus this week as we also attend the Airports Development and Future of Aviation Conference in Manchester.

Airports are essentially mini cities. While typically, they provide fixed points on a person’s journey from A to B, they have everything from key transport infrastructure through to shopping opportunities.

There is a need to take passengers down what is essentially a one-way path, but airport design focuses on that all-important experience point. For example, certain parts of the journey have clear functions like security, while others provide a destination point along the way, like duty free and food outlets.

The retail experience within airports provides an insight into how these brands are continually evolving their propositions to compete and appeal to their audiences. They are using data effectively to build a seamless and personalised customer journey, which is adapted depending on the end-user need.

The high street can take many learnings from department stores like Selfridges or airport environments, refocusing on the coordination of adjacent offerings and creating the opportunities to entertain, comfort and capture the imagination. Effective design and a true drive for delivering what each individual community needs to thrive, our high streets can be fully revitalised to suit the way we live our lives today.

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