Saving the High Street, One Independent Shop at a Time

The publication of Mary Portas report on how to save the high street seems like a good time to round up on how I did trying to buy all my Xmas gifts from Independent Shops

In a word - Great!

I have now finished my Xmas shopping, I enjoyed doing my Xmas shopping, I spent what I normally do and with just one exception I had the most fantastic customer service. I also think the gifts I will give this year are the best ever.

So a big Thank You to Ginger Fig (@gingerfig, www.gingerfig.co.uk) Amarya (www.amarya.co.uk), Unique Creations (www.uniquecreation.co.uk ) and the other independent shops who I bought from

The walk of shame goes to the RSPB who coupled a complete failure to deliver my order with rubbish customer service.

I have to admit to cheating a little as we have just come back from a business trip to China where I bought some gifts (from independent shops tho!)

I resorted to the multiples just to buy PJs and CDs which I could not find at a price I was prepared to buy in Independents.

Do I have any learnings from this exercise?

The most important thing is that theres no point in whinging about the collapse of the High Street. We all have responsibility to ensure that our high streets are not swamped by multiple chains.

The perceived wisdom is that we will all spend £560 on Xmas this year. If I managed to spend over 80% of my budget in Independent shops then what would be the effect if everyone did something similar? Even if we all spent just 50% of our budget in independent shops the High Street would be thriving.

Although I spent a lot of money via the internet it was with shops who had a high street presence as well as an internet shop. The exception to this was Amazon purchases where I most sellers, I think, were internet only

However its not just consumers who have responsibility, its also the shops themselves. In the current climate there is no excuse not to have a website. Social media and optimising websites for shopping from mobile phones/Ipads are also becoming increasinly important. You can prosper but it just takes a lot more effort.

I like the comment from Lord Harris of Peckham, Chairman of Carpetright, who said that with unprecedented problems in the world's economy he was concentrating on just the opportunities under his direct control right.

As small businesses we can't step in to save the Euro but we can make sure that we are doing everything possible to gain all the business we can.

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