Latest / The Retail Podcast / Gymshark Is Opening Gyms. Selfridges Is Going VIP. Is This What Loyalty Looks Like Now?

Transcript

Gymshark Is Opening Gyms. Selfridges Is Going VIP. Is This What Loyalty Looks Like Now? · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  It's Friday, the 17th of April. Welcome to Five Things
• 0:16
  Good morning. Good.
• 0:19
  Morning. How you doing?
• 0:21
  I'm good. How are you?
• 0:23
  Yeah, good. I just, it's really weird.
• 0:24
  I just had the the call with the AIPAC show 5 things Friday,
• 0:28
  AIPAC and they were in Malaysia and Singapore just like, yeah,
• 0:36
  it's interesting how like these trends go across and we ended up
• 0:39
  talking about AIGO and stuff like that.
• 0:41
  But yeah, really good. I can see you've got a lovely
• 0:44
  new light because I can see you, which is fantastic.
• 0:50
  Unlike last week where it was fuzzy as hell, I may as well
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  have not even been on camera. Yeah.
• 0:55
  It's OK. It was fine, it was good and and
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  maybe you'll be interested or not for the first time and I'm
• 1:01
  pretty sure it's down to you. We've got 55% female
• 1:04
  listenership so. Come on, love that.
• 1:07
  Congratulations, which is brilliant.
• 1:12
  OK, listen, let's get straight into it.
• 1:14
  It's been a busy week for both of us.
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  Why don't we start with your two?
• 1:18
  Yeah, let's do it. Gym Shark have just announced
• 1:22
  its first ever gym in Miami, and they're calling it the Gym Shark
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  Lifting Club. And honestly, it makes so much
• 1:30
  sense. You know, this is a brand that
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  have spent over a decade building 1 of the the strongest
• 1:35
  fitness communities in the world.
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  You know, they've got millions of customers.
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  You know, when they do events, 10s of thousands of people turn
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  up. So opening a physical gym and
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  not just a star is a really exciting pivot.
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  You know, obviously up until now, gym shark have existed in
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  your wardrobe, on your phone, occasional events, you know,
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  somewhere, but having somewhere that people can actually go show
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  up and train and spend time in it, you know, it's, it's just so
• 2:04
  exciting. And you know, they're not the
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  only ones doing this. You know, Dior are a good
• 2:08
  example who have invested heavily in into spas and
• 2:13
  Wellness. We've got Lululemon who's
• 2:15
  building out all of these different yoga and Wellness
• 2:17
  studios. Kit is experimenting with paddle
• 2:20
  carts, who is another one that I was going to mention, aloe yoga.
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  I've launched A wildest club. You know, different audiences,
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  same direction. You know, brands are really
• 2:29
  starting to move away from just selling more stuff and instead
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  really investing heavily in experiences, you know, places
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  you can go, things you can do in environments you can be a part
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  of. And I've always spoken about
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  this a million times, but I think a big part of it is where
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  is the customer right now? You know, people are tired of
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  constantness, you know, more product, more noise, you know,
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  that they're really sick of being sold to.
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  And this is, is really making customers feel a part of
• 2:57
  something. You know, it's not a
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  transaction. It really is a sense of
• 3:01
  belonging. Umm, so I loved it.
• 3:04
  I'm really excited to buy it. Umm yeah.
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  I do always say I've always believed that UMM belonging will
• 3:10
  always drive more to them products.
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  So I just think it's so smart what they're doing, I really do.
• 3:15
  Me too. I love it.
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  I'm just gonna I know we said you I'm gonna let you do too,
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  but actually the, the sort of my one of my points was the, the
• 3:22
  data that's coming back. And so people who listen to me,
• 3:26
  God help you, they've I've been talking about how there's these
• 3:30
  three trends that are defining retail, which is retail at the
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  speed of experience, retail at the speed of community and
• 3:37
  culture and retail at speed of intelligence.
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  And what's happening in in the UK, which I know this is opening
• 3:43
  in Miami, but it feels why brands really need to go that
• 3:48
  extra mile, which lends itself to what you'll talk about in a
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  minute is how the reality in the UK is that the consumers are
• 3:54
  splitting into two core cohorts, essential driven spending
• 4:00
  thinking goes ALDI little why Tesco's has had so good.
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  And then the discretionary pullback, if, if you know,
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  fashion is discretionary and people are pulling back from it
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  and the data is showing that, how are brands going to engage
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  communities? And I think that's why
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  everything that you've just mentioned there sort of lends
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  itself to, yes, they're pulling back on discretionary, but is
• 4:24
  going to the gym discretionary or essential?
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  And I guess, you know, people will have a different view on
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  it. But I, I think it's really
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  interesting and how although society or consumers are
• 4:35
  fracturing into these two camps, we may end up with some really
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  amazing new retail experiences. I agree.
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  We'll talk about in one second being, but then it gets a
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  different level, which for retailers and and I'm I'm going
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  to actually, because this links to the the other point that I
• 4:53
  wanted to talk about, which was loyalty.
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  How do you create Realty and how does loyalty just go away?
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  And you mentioned this and and I don't know if you know or saw,
• 5:02
  but you mentioned the Ubereats and Nectar thing and then the
• 5:06
  person who runs that Ubereats, they saw the episode and then
• 5:11
  common shared and liked. Thank.
• 5:13
  You love it. Yeah.
• 5:15
  So that was again, you know, Ubereats watch our show or they
• 5:19
  saw that clip, but it just shows you how loyalty is actually not
• 5:23
  a marketing tool anymore, it's a system.
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  So then Mr or Mrs Retailer, how are you going to be building
• 5:31
  these new systems of engagement, Right.
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  So I just think those two lended itself to what what you were
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  talking about really. Nicely, but.
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  Moving back to you for your second one.
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  Yeah, so this ties in very nicely.
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  What you've just been saying, umm, is that Selfridges have
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  just opened up 40 Juke, which is a 25,000 square foot private
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  mender stairs inside of its store.
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  Look at it. It is just incredible stunning,
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  but it's a huge move. I think we'll call it the the
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  pinnacle of the Selfridges customer universe.
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  But inside, I mean, obviously it's beautiful.
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  I'd love to hang out in there. But they've got personal
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  shopping, hospitality, cultural programming, social spaces.
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  It's all in one space. You know, it's, it's still
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  retail. It's just very, very, very
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  elevated. Yeah, they have 24 private
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  shopping suites, I know, and they've got, they've got over 60
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  personal shopping experts as well.
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  But this is very focused on that, that, you know, that the
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  high spend categories, this is really for their, their, their
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  high earners. You know, it's AI think they've
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  got a private bar in there as well, private lounge and bar,
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  event and exhibition spaces, you know, but it is invite only for
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  their ultra high worth clients. And I know that they have
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  Selfridges unlocked and I believe you have to spend over
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  £20,000 to get access one day. It's, I mean, this is
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  aspirational, but. It's very aspirational.
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  What's really, I mean, I, I fly and, and this is just a matter
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  of fact for me, it's not like a brag, but you know, you get
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  these tears in, in BA and I'm Iberia and the, the new tier is
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  tier 0 because they, you know, Tier 1 is gold and everything
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  and said to you get access, but it's just who gets on the plane
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  1st. And yeah, group zero goes.
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  And I was thinking from a marketing perspective, who wants
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  to be in Group 0? But look at Selfridges.
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  I mean, no one wants to be, but Selfridges have a naming
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  category, which is VVSP, which is a very, very Selfridge people
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  person who you get keys apparently to unlocking space is
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  unlocked. And then you have the VSP, which
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  is a a very Selfridges people. You know, it's a little bit
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  clunky, but it's really, you know, VVSP and a VSP.
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  But it's going to really create that formal, you know, And yeah,
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  you're right, you earn keys by spending and by visiting their
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  experiences. So obviously the more engaged
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  you are, the more access you unlock.
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  And then the top tier customers, there's different access points
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  to it, but the top, top tiers, the highest vendors, they Get
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  full access. So again, it's, you know, again,
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  it is, it's like being in the, you've got the gold members area
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  in the airport and then you've got the, the normal BA large.
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  It's very much like that. And it will encourage spending
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  because people will want access. It's, it's really smart, but I
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  think it's violence. But it's good because it's, it's
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  keeping customers in the store longer as well.
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  It's blending shopping with socialising and it's making
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  retail feel like a real destination again.
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  I mean, Selfridges already feels like a destination.
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  I can spend hours in there because there is so much to do
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  with that and it's very exciting.
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  But this, this takes it to another level.
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  You know, it's that classic London private members club
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  which a lot of people love, but built in a department store.
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  It's really good. It's yeah, I'm excited by it.
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  Maybe one day I'll stand 20,000 lbs and get in there.
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  And I think it puts to sleep that whole argument that's going
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  on that department stores are over.
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  You know, people don't want which which I I think that's
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  such rubbish, such rubbish. Rubbish.
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  Department stores are over. No one wants to go in and just
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  like have a 55,000 labels thrown at you stacked up.
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  You want an experience, you want to go.
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  Yeah, which was why department stores were created.
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  It's true. I mean, look at John, John Lewis
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  now. I went in John Lewis through the
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  day and I was like this. It's so much better.
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  You know, it's a place I actually wanted to spend time in
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  because you go in other department stores and I'm like
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  scuttling around trying to find one.
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  I get and I want to get out. I want to get out as soon as
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  possible. But Selfridges, I'd spend a day
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  there. John Lewis are really that
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  they're getting towards that. I think it's the renovations
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  that they're doing. So yeah.
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  I mean, just go to John Lewis. Yeah, Oxford St.
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  It's, it's lovely. It's a really lovely experience.
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  And they're fish and chips on the and the canteen upstairs.
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  I always stop there. Me and my mum.
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  I would love her fish and chips on a Friday.
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  Anyway, my final one, Yeah, another High Street brand that
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  came together. Vodafone and three are launching
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  their Co branded stores. I think the merger was last year
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  in 2025. They're now going through and I
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  think you covered Tesco Mobile. So, you know, no surprise here
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  what they say in their press releases.
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  We're focused on on experiential elements within retail more and
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  so you know, less probably 55,000 mobiles where you just go
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  and point, but probably little use cases on content creators or
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  I don't know, sports and fitness, but they're starting
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  their High Street transformation.
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  The only little question I had at the back of my head was
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  obviously there's an investment going in, but at the moment
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  you've got two, you're going to come down to one that's going to
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  be in some areas on some high streets.
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  That means another vacant lot. But yeah, anyway, I'm not gonna
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  say no to having investment in the UK High Street.
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  So phenomenal. Nice to see that Vodafone 3
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  investing in new experiences in retail, which brings us lovely
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  and nicely to close just quickly.
• 11:36
  How was Richmond last week? Did you have fun?
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  Richmond was really, really great.
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  I was saying I just constantly have my notepad out, just
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  writing, writing my tick. Really insightful.
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  Lots of different talks. I went to a fantastic talk.
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  It was the CEO of New Doc Linda on cybersecurity, which sounds
• 11:56
  like the most dullest topic we know, but it's a topic that
• 12:00
  everybody has to learn about. And actually it was, it was so
• 12:04
  interesting. It really was just super
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  insightful of and really great speakers.
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  But that, I would say was my highlight, surprisingly out of
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  all the talks. Yeah, she just presented it in
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  such a more human and relatable way and really kind of
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  highlighted things that actually more start doing that that we
• 12:24
  should be doing. It was, I mean, what they're
• 12:26
  doing is just phenomenal. You saw last week, Yeah, yeah,
• 12:30
  yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
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  So yeah, it was great. Would highly recommend for any
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  retailers. I know they do a few on seats,
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  yeah. Cool.
• 12:38
  Well, I'm not gonna hold out on seeing you at RTS next week
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  because from Shoptalk Lux, I know you're super, super busy.
• 12:46
  So anyway, I may see you at RTS next week.
• 12:49
  I hope. We do.
• 12:51
  It's not a problem. Have a lovely weekend and I may
• 12:56
  see you next week. I hope so.
• 12:58
  Have a lovely weekend, Alex. You too.
• 13:01
  Bye.