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Transcript

Five Things Friday UK: Retail Relevance, Gen Z Trends & The Rise of Resale · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, welcome to Five Things Friday UK edition.
• 0:03
  It's so I'm Alex.
• 0:16
  I help people who sell to retailers maintain their thought
• 0:19
  leadership at the world's largest conferences.
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  And I'm joined by my stupendous, marvellous, marvellous.
• 0:25
  We'll go for marvellous Marvellous Co host Simone
• 0:29
  Ollivan, Co founder of Needham for tonight.
• 0:31
  Hello Simone. Hello, how are you?
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  I'm great, happy it's Friday. Oh, it's Friday.
• 0:40
  I have to say so, and I think I I did your Magnum piece cause
• 0:44
  such ripples in the ice cream industry that the agency that's
• 0:48
  responsible for the amazing success reached out to to myself
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  and hopefully we're gonna have the there.
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  I think he's the founder CEO, I don't know, maybe just the CEO
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  come on the show and talk about, you know, all those amazing
• 1:02
  activations that Magnum has done.
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  So one to what? Very, very cool.
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  They've just been so amazing, so creative, so definitely want to
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  watch. OK, so let's get straight into
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  it. Top five things.
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  I think there's going to be about 6 topics, but the we fit
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  them into 5 buckets. OK, Simone, why don't you kick
• 1:20
  us off with the first one? Yes, so I have been reading on
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  not only River Islands, but also class accessories and their
• 1:29
  struggles. Now I don't say that high
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  streets dad, but I am going to say that it does feel like it's
• 1:35
  on life support. We've seen River Island and SAD,
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  we've seen River Island is now facing a possible collapse.
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  And then we've got Claire's Accessories.
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  Their parent company has filed for bankruptcy.
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  These two retailers for me were a bit of a statement of my
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  childhood. Claire's Accessories was the one
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  that I went to in primary school to 1st get my ears pierced.
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  And so did oh, Claire's Accessories.
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  Whenever I'd go shopping with my mom and dad, just for a little
• 2:02
  bit of context, you'd go in and that was like the one shop I'd
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  be like, I want to go to Claire's Accessories.
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  Like it really wasn't an experience for children and
• 2:10
  teenagers growing up. And of course, River Island is
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  also a quite cool place to shop as well.
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  But yeah, I mean, both have just made me think of just how this
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  is obviously something bigger in retail and how, I guess retail
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  brands lose. Maybe not.
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  It's not always tied to the product that's failed.
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  But actually it's because that the stage has changed and they
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  haven't. You know, we've seen Claire's.
• 2:34
  I think we've filed for bankruptcy twice.
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  I think I was reading and River Ireland at the minute, they are
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  fighting for their life in court and they're really hoping to
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  save jobs and restructure leases before it hits administration.
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  We've also seen this as well with NIFT.
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  It's some of our shop partners over the past, not necessarily
• 2:51
  brands going into administration, but a lot of
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  shop closures and but just because people can't afford it.
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  And I think I was just thinking, I don't think, and this isn't in
• 3:01
  all cases, but I think it's not always that, you know, people
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  don't want accessories or good fashion.
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  But I think as we've discussed many times, I think what's
• 3:09
  happened is retail has become sole context dependent and many
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  brands haven't evolved their physical presence or their
• 3:17
  storytelling in time. And we've really seen all of
• 3:20
  these incredible brands really rise up over the past few years.
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  We've discussed on this plodge past, but we've seen some of the
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  bigger players like River Island has who have just been left
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  behind. And personally, I I don't have
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  all the answers, but I don't think that the product the the
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  problem is the product in more in all cases.
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  I think it's where and how and, and with whom that the products
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  show up with. You know, we've chatted so much
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  about physical retail, really having a cultural moment with
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  all of these pop ups and the importance of community, and I
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  think that's where a lot of these brands have gone wrong.
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  It's interesting. Somebody this week used the word
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  an interesting term called dead shell syndrome this term before
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  I was like, but it's that's a term that's really relevant to,
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  I think, where retail is right now.
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  And that again comes back to that relevance doesn't always
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  come from you stock. You know, it comes from, as
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  mentioned, the stage that you set.
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  And of course, if that stage disappears, then so does your
• 4:22
  place in culture. And I think this term dead shelf
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  syndrome, don't know why tongue twister saying that, you know,
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  it refers to things like it might be the wrong location or
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  the wrong moment. But I think the big one is it's
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  lacking cultural or community alignment.
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  And I think we're seeing a lot of that in retail, which is very
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  sad. So that was my depressing topic
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  for today. Well.
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  I mean, to be fair, you missed that there's another one that's
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  unfortunately going bust. They're called Ebuyer, which is
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  the UK second largest electronics provider.
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  And it is really sad because I River Island was the first
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  company that I, that was my first retail job and I'd worked
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  there like most people in the the UK, first jobs are somewhere
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  in retail. Yeah.
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  And I loved working at River Island.
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  I thought it was super, super cool.
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  Left a great mark with me. But that cultural relevance
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  part, I think we, we, we're getting to a part where if
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  you're not investing in maintaining relevance, then that
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  is going to outpace your profit, that is going to outpace your
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  margin. And as sad it is, so this isn't,
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  you know, it is a sad thing that these great British brands are
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  struggling to maintain their relevance.
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  And it's not one of what you were saying, lack of product or
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  it's just the fact that there's ten other more relevant brands
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  out there that are stealing your customers.
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  And so sad to see, but a sign of our times.
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  And one of those brands that if you like, are still doing well
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  and expanding into the UK is Mango.
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  So Mango expanding their team range in the UK and I think in
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  the USI think what the US show that we did last week or
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  whenever it was, we were talking about how Walmart is expanding
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  the teen range as well, old teenies.
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  And there's a bit of an age gap between in the UK, what we class
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  as teenagers, but ultimately teenagers feel unreferent,
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  underrepresented when it comes to clothing.
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  So they maybe get adult clothing that is not age appropriate for
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  young girls, or they get cutesy teddy bears.
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  They're still age appropriate for teenagers.
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  And so there's this sort of little gap in the middle between
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  the, the upper echelons of teenagers and the younger years.
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  But it's a Sigmund in itself and Mango's addressing that in the
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  UK specifically. And interesting enough, Walmart
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  is doing the same in the US. So it's a, it's a growth trend.
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  I think we'll see more of more age appropriate clothing for,
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  for, for kids specifically because I think there's been a
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  lot of backlash the, you know, certain items of clothing not
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  being age appropriate. And I think this is a step in
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  that direction, giving parents or teenagers more choice.
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  Yeah, it's interesting. I did.
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  I did a talk at school a couple of months ago and it was a lot
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  of teenage girls school. Like your old school or
• 7:18
  something? Not my old school called Saint
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  Francis Holland in central London.
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  It was a girls school and acting to some of the teenage girls.
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  And they said exactly this. And they said, you know, some I
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  think they like, they loved like Urban Outfitters.
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  But sometimes actually Urban Outfitters, you know, it might
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  not be appropriate, but actually it's too big for them as well
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  because they're still, well, they're not fully developed.
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  And they were saying, you know, there's not enough clubs for
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  teenagers. So it's really interesting that
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  this has happened and clearly needed as well.
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  Yeah, and I think this is one of my big bets.
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  I think athleisure is people are bored of athleisure and going to
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  JD Sports and getting a tracksuit or and and recently I,
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  I anyway, I'm not going to go off.
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  I'll go off on a change it be there for an hour.
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  Moving on other other news taking our market.
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  I mean, listen, the UK is always LED, you know, the car boot sale
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  is a, a retail experience to its own, uniquely British in that.
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  And so thrift, second hand stores.
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  I, I think the UK is always LED. It's just never been part, never
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  seen as this sort of greater transformation of the industry,
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  the circular economy moving into sustainability.
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  But the good news is the UK is leading in this area.
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  It's it's set to double from 29.9 billion to 50.9 billion.
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  This is specifically in the homeware market.
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  You can see it, I don't know if that's specifically for the UK
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  or across Europe. I'm just trying to read it as we
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  go. But anyway, it's the, the good
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  news is it's on the it's going cross category.
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  So you don't have to go out 8:00 AM on a Sunday to that cold car
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  park. You can still do that.
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  They are now, you know upmarket recycled items lots of platforms
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  are now looking to address that element and specifically for Gen
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  Z moving out of home, getting their first places they're not
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  looking to go out and buy new they're looking to to recycle or
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  upcycle. And so the the data the trend is
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  showing oh there you go second hand market surge is 4.8 billion
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  in online sales so it's surging online.
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  I'm hoping people are still going to flea markets.
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  I'm sure they will do more car boot sales, but digital is now
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  where it's at for this new generation.
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  And I think as it says in this article here on Commons share
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  buy items. It's changing consumer habits.
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  And I think this lends itself to what we were just talking about
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  in the first thing You either adapt or you get left behind.
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  Set. Yeah, exactly.
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  Moving on, coming, bringing it home for our last two elements.
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  Yes, an interesting topic. I feel like I always bring a
• 9:58
  wacky topic to the table where you look at me and you're like.
• 10:03
  Earplugs. What, hear me out.
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  So I look, I'm always looking at what the Gen Z hype is.
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  I'm not Gen Z, but I always find that, you know, what are they
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  shopping? What are they obsessed with?
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  And I always find that I find really weird and exciting and
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  unexpected things that they're spending on.
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  And I think we've discussed this before.
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  It's less about logos and traditional state, you know,
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  it's all about self-expression. And I came across jewellery and
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  Earplug in the same, in the same sentence.
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  I was, I was reading an article and I think it was in Vogue, I
• 10:40
  think, and it was saying that Genz jewellery trends are all
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  about chaotic customization, like thinking things like
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  charms, like nude matching and really like these kind of lead
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  pieces that almost have been compared to like DIY.
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  And you know, it's less about obviously like gold and silver
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  or diamonds and it's more personal, I think.
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  And then these kind of jewellery that they're really becoming
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  like these major identity tools, but with the earplugs.
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  I know loop is, I think there's other brands but loop is the
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  main. Is for loop.
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  And they're obviously, look, there are brands that's making
• 11:17
  hearing protection. €50 or pounds.
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  And they've turned earplugs in into fashion accessories.
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  They were the F1 Coachella, Glastonbury.
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  And as you can see that they actually look, obviously they
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  look quite, I'm actually. Thinking in gangs?
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  Oh, there we go. But they actually look quite
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  sleek. And, you know, they come in lots
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  of different colours as well. But again, it's this functional
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  and fashionable as a as a topic and this crossover I think we're
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  seeing everywhere. Like I think Gen Z, you know,
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  obviously they are buying it for safety, but it's a part of the
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  fit. They clearly look cool and have
• 11:53
  become really cool. Yeah.
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  So yeah. And then I think this is quite
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  good timing because very different.
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  But again, this kind of crossover between functional and
• 12:03
  cool is Tarla have been with incredible marketing, really,
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  really, really great. They have been hinting at.
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  I mean, I thought it was scuba wear, but I think it's actually
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  more, I think you described it as leisure wear 2.0, which it
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  is. I think it's came from scuba
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  materials to create this ultra leisure wear.
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  People's been going crazy. I mean, I will admit, at first I
• 12:28
  thought it was just purely first scuba diving and everybody was
• 12:31
  getting fixed. And I was thinking, I bet half
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  these people don't scuba dive, but I don't think it is for
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  that. But again, they've created a
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  really amazing hype. And again, it's this, this is
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  the kind of thing that people are caring about, you know,
• 12:45
  their customization. I think people are loving, but
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  this Wellness gear that fits the aesthetic.
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  And then of course, like Looper doing anything that's really
• 12:55
  being able to to be tied into a moment, you know, festivals and
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  niche collabs. So yeah, that was mine.
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  And I guess I just one last thing on that as well is I was
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  then thinking about, you know, obviously NIFT is a brand, but
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  we're not a physical product. And if I was a brand and I was
• 13:11
  thinking, what do I launch next? I think I would then think maybe
• 13:15
  I need to flip that and be like, actually where should my
• 13:18
  existing products show up instead?
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  Because as we've spoke about so much, these are the brands that
• 13:24
  are really winning. And I think, you know, some of
• 13:26
  these more big, bigger retailers that are being left behind,
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  that's the kind of thing that they need to be thinking about.
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  So that was my last thought. Of yeah, listen, I, I, I love
• 13:36
  listening to you talk about these things because you bring
• 13:38
  such a diverse way of thinking that when I then put it into my
• 13:42
  global enterprise mind, I'm like, OK, I totally get it.
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  And yeah, one thing about Gen Z is this self-expression and
• 13:50
  self-care, both Brandon's like that.
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  I know. How do I address it?
• 13:55
  So basically looking after your health in your ears and, and
• 14:00
  thinking about something that's going to affect or have an
• 14:02
  impact to on you in your 60s and 70s Yeah.
• 14:07
  But you know, anyone who's been to a gig or a concert or a rave
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  or a club or F1 sports knows that you still feel everything,
• 14:16
  but you don't need to blow out your ears so to.
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  Say again? Oh, no, I just said it's true.
• 14:21
  Yeah. You don't.
• 14:22
  You don't need to go. But for me, what a generation to
• 14:25
  say, you know what, we're going to put ourselves first.
• 14:28
  We're going to, from a community perspective, we are going to be
• 14:32
  open to looking after ourselves. And you know, in, in terms of
• 14:36
  Tyler, this material ultimately has a longer shelf life.
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  It's like double the thickness of normal leggings or normal
• 14:44
  leisure wear keeps everything in.
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  So again, a wonderful example of self-expression community and
• 14:51
  Tyler being phenomenal at building that community.
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  And I think maybe you can know they don't actually have
• 14:57
  physical stores, do they? They do.
• 15:00
  They opened one fairly recently. In the last couple of months.
• 15:04
  It was, I think it's Carnaby St. OK, they're not on the nymph
• 15:08
  network yet. OK, not yet.
• 15:11
  What's this? No on Tyler?
• 15:12
  What are you waiting for anyway? OK, listen, Simone, it's been an
• 15:16
  absolute blast. We'll keep it to our 15 minutes
• 15:19
  or just over thing. Thank you so much and hopefully
• 15:23
  same time, same place next week.