With a double dip recession being tipped by many experts and house prices set to go down, is it going to affect the High Street, well my personal opinion is it is and it isn’t. First of all it all depends on the collections that the fashion stores bring in, if the collections are poor then the stores are obviously going to struggle.
There are three market groups when it comes to the high street, there the lower end of the market your Peacocks, Primark, and the list goes on. These stores seem to be flying at the moment. The reasons for this is people are looking for a quick fashion fix at a cheap price, but is this value for money, the fabrics are often a lot cheaper, therefore not lasting the length of time that the middle market or high end clothing would do and people have to ask the question how companies manage to produce the clothing at such cheap prices. It has been well documented in media about the practices of Primark, yet this dosent seem to put people off.
The next market is the Middle Market, now this is the likes of French Connection, Monsoon and would include the majority of the Independent stores. This market has been hit the hardest by the economic crisis as many of these customers are on modest incomes and have turned to the lower end of the market to do most of their shopping and using the Middle Market as a top up to the wardrobe, getting the odd piece where as previously they were doing the majority of their shopping from these stores. Now its not that many of these people have any less money to spend in these stores, its just the fear that surrounds a recession particularly in this market segment. This is the sector that has seen most store closures particularly amongst the independent fashion stores.
They find it more difficult to ride a bad period in trade, as they don’t make the margins that High Street stores do, customers are often more nervous to have a look around an independent store as people loves brands and if they don’t recognise the brand name above your door they often feel intimidated in coming in, as its human nature to stick with what you know. They also are committed to buying a certain level of stock and also run on much smaller staffing and therefore when they need to cut running costs there isn’t a lot they are able to cut. So come on people next time your on the High Street and you walk past your independent store, Dont, walk into it and give it a chance as if you don’t that store that you once loved because you bought that one gorgeous piece in 6 months might not be there the following week.
The next bracket is the High end store, these seem to be doing a little better as they are not in the abundance that the middle end are. These include the like of department stores Harvey Nichols and independents like Jules B, amongst many others. Their customer base doesn’t have a problem with prices and are generally cash rich. These customers although have been affected by the recession have not been affected to the point that it makes much difference whether they treat themselves or not.
So I urge all fashion shoppers to keep your independent fashion store going by supporting them through shopping with them, its also up to the fashion designers to keep producing strong ranges that the fashionista’s have an appetite for. Hopefully we can stop a dip in trade amongst the fashion stores as where would we be if every town had four or five store to choose from. I know that would be a disaster for me and everyone else. Please comment on this post if you have any feeling about this or why not give your local store a mention…….
