First paragraph:  Department store BHS has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer. It is a worrying time for more than 10,000 employees and could be viewed as another piece of evidence that the UK high street is in terminal decline. Retailers have been battered by the onslaught of changing consumer patterns, online retailing and out-of-town shopping. There are grains of truth in this, but at its core, this is a tale of a business being out-competed by smarter, nimbler rivals over a number of years.https://theconversation.com/britains-ruthless-high-street-leaves-no-room-for-stragglers-like-bhs-5834

Sparks, Leigh

English

First paragraph:  Department store BHS has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer. It is a worrying time for more than 10,000 employees and could be viewed as another piece of evidence that the UK high street is in terminal decline. Retailers have been battered by the onslaught of changing consumer patterns, online retailing and out-of-town shopping. There are grains of truth in this, but at its core, this is a tale of a business being out-competed by smarter, nimbler rivals over a number of years

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)

29/05/2019 Britain's ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglers like BHShttps://theconversation.com/britains-ruthless-high-street-leaves-no-room-for-stragglers-like-bhs-58345 1/4AuthorLeigh SparksProfessor of Retail Studies, Institute forRetail Studies, University of StirlingAcademic rigour, journalistic flairBritain’s ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglerslike BHSApril 25, 2016 3.44pm BSTDepartment store BHS has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer. It isa worrying time for more than 10,000 employees and could be viewed as anotherpiece of evidence that the UK high street is in terminal decline. Retailers have beenbattered by the onslaught of changing consumer patterns, online retailing and out-of-town shopping. There are grains of truth in this, but at its core, this is a tale of abusiness being out-competed by smarter, nimbler rivals over a number of years.BHS, formerly British Home Stores, became a town centre stalwart after opening itsfirst shop in Brixton back in 1928. More recently, the brand has been struggling. SirPhilip Green bought it in 2000 for £200m but sold it last year for £1 and wrote offsome of its debt. That alone hints at longstanding and ongoing trading difficulties, exacerbated by adebt burden, including in its pension fund. A rent reduction agreed by landlords earlier this year hasobviously not done the trick, again pointing to a problem with fundamentals.For such a notable business this is quite a come down, but should it really surprise us? If we thinkabout what BHS resembles, then C&A and Littlewoods perhaps spring to mind. Both of these ofcourse have gone from the High Street, as has Woolworths which was the original inspiration forWe give a voice to experts. Donate now to help us spreadfacts, not fiction.Donate nowHitting the buffers. EPA/ANDY RAINApril 25, 2016 3.44pm BSTBritain’s ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglerslike BHS29/05/2019 Britain's ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglers like BHShttps://theconversation.com/britains-ruthless-high-street-leaves-no-room-for-stragglers-like-bhs-58345 2/4British Home Stores. Many independent local department stores have also closed (such as McEwans of Perth). BHS was, in many ways, occupying the same space in consumers’ minds as all theseretailers – and even as rivals exited the market it could not trade sufficiently strongly to survive.Survivors, thriversWe could argue that BHS has become progressively less important to consumers, and to the townswhere it operates. The sites its stores occupy are often central and sometimes externally grandphysical spaces, but commercially they are underperforming and internally many of the stores aredated. For many consumers BHS does not really stand out or have an offer that makes it a desireddestination. The brand has lost its way, as have some others before them, and failed to react to thecompetition.So how have those other retailers got the recipe right? How have they eaten into the mainstreammarket, creating successful operations and challenging “legacy” retailers?The rise of the “fast fashion” chains such as Primark, Zara and H&M and discounters such as Matalanand TK Maxx have brought affordable and fashionable wear to the wider consumer market.Department stores such as John Lewis and Debenhams (and its “house of brands”) have reinventedthemselves with clear, focused and attractive offers. The food retailers with their forays into non-food– for example Tesco, ASDA and Sainsburys, have all attracted consumers and sales.Competition time. markheybo/Flickr, CC BY29/05/2019 Britain's ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglers like BHShttps://theconversation.com/britains-ruthless-high-street-leaves-no-room-for-stragglers-like-bhs-58345 3/4And in home or lighting where BHS had a traditional strength, competitors have come up with astronger offer, as with Homebase or the specialist Pagazzi Lighting. Across the spectrum of the BHSrange, other retailers have a more compelling and/or convenient offer and position this more clearlyand strongly in the minds and the pockets of consumers. They are left with a crushing question: whygo to BHS? Especially when there are so many alternatives nearby in shopping centres and highstreets.Chanelling effortsThe other major shift during this period has of course been the rapid and extensive development ofomni-channel retailing though the innovation of online retailing and its synergy with physical storesin many cases.Across all the competitors mentioned above, online shopping is a central and important component ofthe retail offer. In addition, other retailers have emerged from the online or catalogue arena toprovide direct and focused competition: look at JD Williams or Damart. Others offered a strongbrand, or a convincing offer and position, and pushed BHS further down in consumers’ thinking. Theshop was seen as increasingly less relevant, less modern and less appropriate.The demise of BHS has been a long time in the making and is reflective of a business not adapting tothe trends in its core marketplace and not having the investment it needed at the points when it couldhave made a difference. Where others invested in the stores, the brand, the online operations andmodern systems to link and manage the business, BHS failed in this and fell behind.The fastest growing retailers in the UK today are identified by their omni-channel approach,innovative use of physical stores, clever deployment of emerging technologies and internationalNot everyone can be first. Shutterstock/Cindy Haggerty29/05/2019 Britain's ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglers like BHShttps://theconversation.com/britains-ruthless-high-street-leaves-no-room-for-stragglers-like-bhs-58345 4/4Debt Pensions Shopping High street Philip Green Retail sector administration BHSstrategies. Whether large or small, success comes from understanding and engaging consumers andmeeting their needs; things that others were better at than BHS.The potential end for BHS is not then a reflection of a dying high street but of a highly competitiveand open British retail market which produces strong, focused competition, whether online, out-of-town or on the high street – and whether from British or international retailers. Many of thesecompetitors are present in our major high streets and are trading strongly. BHS’s decline perhaps saysmore about the internal inabilities of management to alter course than it does about the desirability ofsome of our major high streets.Before you go...The rancorous EU referendum campaign and Brexit negotiations have beenmarked by lies and half-truths from politicians happy to obscure the facts. Pleasesupport The Conversation to ensure our academic experts can continue applyingcool analysis to the most heated of arguments.Laura HoodPolitics EditorDonate now

Britain's ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglers like BHS

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Britain's ruthless High Street leaves no room for stragglers like BHS

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