When the economy is motoring, even the mediocre do reasonably well. “A rising tide lifts all ships”. When the going gets tough, the ‘Diversity of Performance’ between the best performers and the laggards gets much, much more pronounced. We’ve written about this many times before. Perhaps the contrasting fortunes of Apple and Nokia in the smartphone market is one of the better examples.
Today, John Lewis presented another example of ‘how to do it’. Against a background of tough times this Christmas on the High Street, John Lewis posted a 9.3% (6.2% on a like-for-like basis) increase in sales in the 5 week period to 31st Dec 11 – contrasting with a decline in sales at Next and, indeed, many other retailers.
Why? John Lewis is a really excellent example of ‘Clicks and Bricks’. Online sales were up 28%. ‘Click & Collect’ sales were up 90%. Indeed, John Lewis reckon that most of their sales are now influenced by the internet. Customers research on the internet first before buying in store. Or, like me, they look at items in store then buy online (from the store) to avoid having to carry the stuff home. Conversely others order on line and collect in store.
Personally I see the High Street moving towards becoming a series of showrooms and collection points. I think it will become increasingly difficult to exist just on the High Street. A parallel online store is now not a ‘nice to have’ but an essential. BTW – the converse is NOT the case. As Amazon shows, it is perfectly viable to exist online without any physical stores.