Rising Retail is an exciting new networking event for independent retailers to share best practise with one another. The current reality of the high street is a constant onslaught of one thing after another. While there are lots of great examples of retailers who are bucking the trend and continuing to thrive, many more have sold or shut up shop.
How It Is
Right now, the uneven playing field of business rates for bricks and mortar stores versus online marketplaces like Amazon, the lack of parking in some towns, lower footfalls, changing consumer habits, staffing issues and financial challenges are a constant challenge for most independent retailers.
Many of us are ill-prepared for a looming Hard Brexit and have no idea of how it will affect our businesses. Meanwhile, online sales growth and social media platforms continue to evolve. Many retailers have been left behind with these new technologies. They often don’t understand them, are inadequately prepared and unsure of what they are doing and the effect it is really having on their sales.
We are all guilty of sticking with what we know, even when it is no longer working in the same way. Trying new things can feel daunting, especially when we don’t really know what we are doing. The answers aren’t always easy to find online and consultancy can cost money that some simply don’t have.
The Predictable Future
Without some action being taken, all the above point towards more independents quitting or being forced to close in the coming years.
The upshot of this is struggle, pain and hardship. Decreased motivation and energy follows and there’s an inevitable negative series of knock on effects on the lives of friends, family and loved ones.
Moreover, the physical landscape of our high streets will morph into homogeneity and every town will lose its uniqueness. Retailers will also tragically miss out on opportunities that are presenting themselves through the internet, social media, conscious consumerism and early signs of a return to localism.
Another Possibility
Imagine the possibility of a vibrant gathering that translates into real footfall and sales for retailers both in store and online in the UK. Picture High Streets coming alive again and transforming into vibrant communities. Envisage happy business owners, motivated staff, engaged customers and inspiring mindsets. Seem like a far fetched fantasy that is unachievable? I believe that there may be a way.
How?
I spend a lot of time talking to retailers. I’m obsessed with learning about what challenges they face and what challenges they’ve overcome in their businesses. I love the conversations we have because I learn so much about both my customers and my own business at the same time.
Even after having run Blue Eyed Sun for so long, there are still business basics that I sometimes miss or forget. There are also new things to learn all the time about technology, the market and our shifting patterns of behaviour.
For me there’s no better way to learn than from people who are on the ground constantly working with tools and techniques that improve aspects of their lives and businesses; figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Together, our shared knowledge is more powerful than anything we can achieve for ourselves. This has led me to seeing this new possibility, a way of taking action in the face of the issues at hand, a way of growing our businesses in any climate. It came from thinking about how we can improve our businesses in achievable, actionable increments. A variety of things one can do to create a series of five percent improvements that have a compounding overall effect.
Golden Nuggets
I spend a proportion of my time every year sharpening my saw. It’s no good hacking away at your goal with blunt instrument. You have to work on yourself and on your business if you are to grow. We are creatures of habit and a growth mindset has to become habitual for us if we are to move beyond our current business reality.
To do this I read books, listen to podcasts, engage on social media, speak with others and attend events. I find events to be most powerful because they create clusters of interactive conversations around a subject area. They prompt discussion and allow for questions and answers that are not the same in any of the other formats.
When you go to events you often come away with a single golden nugget that transforms your life or your business. A new insight. A new way of seeing. Some small thing that makes it completely worthwhile attending and has huge leverage for you going forward.
Rising Retail
After almost 20 years in this industry I want to give back to the independent retailers that I love so dearly and have been such an important part of my own good fortune. I love bringing people together and I love learning. I am lucky enough to have know many fantastic talented retailers who have inspired me over the years and want to bring them all together to create something really special and valuable for those that attend.
So, I am creating an event in October called Rising Retail that will inspire and nurture the creativity of retailers to take their businesses to new levels and reignite the imaginations of the communities that shop with them. An event full of golden nuggets.
The Format
The idea is to have 10 speakers over the course of a single day, each speaking for around 15 minutes with time for questions and networking. Each talk will have up to 10 golden nuggets that have contributed to the measurable success the speakers have had in specific areas that other retailers find challenging. They will share actions that you can take to achieve similar results.
Actionable outcomes are really important, so that it isn’t just another event that one attends, takes notes at, feels good about and then does nothing with. We want this event to have a profound impact on the business owners that attend it and the communities that they return to afterwards.
If an event is usually worth it for attendees when they unearth one golden nugget, then having up to 100 key learnings will be a treasure trove for retailers who who join in. Even more valuable will be the conversation that occurs between retailers on the day.
The networking sections between talks and at lunch will be an opportunity for us to share inspirational stories and develop new ideas. My dream is that we create new ways of tackling some of the seemingly insurmountable challenges. We all have something to learn from each other, we can do more together as a group than as individuals and these parts of the day will, no doubt, turn out to be just as invaluable as the main talks.
The Outcome
Rising Retail will be an event that will ignite a retailer’s lost spark. It will excite and energise. It will create new possibilities for all of these who attend.
This project will only be as strong as the retail community members that rise to the challenge and share with one another what works and doesn’t work, what we see as achievable and how to go out and get it.
So, what about you?
Your Vision
What do you see as possible for your retail business, your team, your customers and your community? Does any of this resonate with you? Would you like to join me? I’d love to hear your stories and your answers to these questions:
1. What are the top three challenges you face in your retail business right now?
2. What challenges you’ve overcome so far that others could learn from?
3. Who inspires you in retail?
4. What retail opportunities or trends excite you for the future?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If it has at all connected with you then please contact me and share your answers to the questions above and your interest in attending or sharing at Rising Retail. Email me now at jeremy@blueeyedsun.co.uk
The event will be held on Monday 1st June 2020 at the Shard in London. Book your place here.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Retailers