Powerful partners

WHY COLLABORATING WITH LOCAL LIKE-MINDED INDIES CAN INCREASE SALES AND EXPAND YOUR CUSTOMER BASE

Collaborating with other small businesses can be a great way for indies to boost sales and increase footfall. By working with other likeminded retailers, you can tap into each other's customer bases and expand your overall reach.

There are lots of ways to harness a powerful partnership. Hosting a joint event, such as a trunk show or workshop, can be a great way to engage new customers. Finding a business that complements your own is key to maximising this opportunity. Womenswear retailers could work with jewellery or lingerie indies, for instance, which sell different yet complementary product categories. You could also introduce a joint promotion such as a package deal with a local salon. Customers who purchase a certain value at your store could be offered a discounted hair or beauty service. This not only helps boost sales for both businesses, but also provides customers with added value. Alternatively, you could offer tailored gift options by partnering with a local florist to offer curated special occasion boxes.

CONTACT: Tel 0203 376 5888 toptotoe.com

While joint promotions can be hugely effective, communicating with shoppers via text and email requires an efficient EPOS system, such as Top to Toe, to collect and store the necessary data. Retailers can ensure that their entire business is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible with the system’s data-driven insights and variations stock management. And because it’s been designed specifically for fashion retailers, it comes with a host of other features that will help you generate the most sales and profits as possible.

Last month I was critical of the government’s latest Spring Budget, mostly because it does very little to help indie retailers manage the current crisis. We have now seen a new five-point plan to revitalise the high street from the Labour Party, which includes:

1. Cutting business rates for small businesses, paid for by raising taxes on online companies such as Amazon; Labour has said it wants to scrap business rates altogether in the long term

2. The introduction of a £700 million voucher scheme allowing small businesses to make energy efficiency measures such as installing double glazing

3. Tackling late payments to small businesses by forcing big businesses to publish information on payment practices in their annual reports

4. Giving local councils powers to take over empty shops and reopen them without consent from property owners

5. Introducing town centre patrols as part of its pledge to recruit 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSO officers

In general, it’s hard to argue with any of these measures. Business rates remains the number one issue for high street retailers, and we welcome the commitment to wholesale reform in the longer term. But instead of cutting rates for smaller retailers, I would like to see this tax removed altogether. This would cost about £1.5 billion - only 5 per cent of the total rates income.

Another huge business burden for retailers is the cost of energy. It is right that there is financial support available to enable the smaller retailer to take appropriate measures. Many have already started doing this to reduce energy consumption, but as well as grants, we need to ensure that landlords will also allow the work to be done and share the responsibility.

The plan to deal with empty shops is already an existing commitment by the current government, so this is not new. Bira has been heavily involved with developing this policy, but I feel it will only be used as a last resort by the authorities. I question how many buildings will be bought back into use, however, it remains an option. Empty shops are not good for any high street.

Creating a safe and secure high street is important, so we support the proposal to bring in specific patrols. Anti-social behaviour and retail crime are blights on retail. Not only do these issues make shoppers feel unsafe, but it damages businesses. We have also seen an alarming increase in the abuse of retail staff. I would like to see more direction given to the police and crime commissioners as well as assurance that business crime and safe high streets are included in their plans.

We applaud the Labour party for bringing forward these ideas – they are steps in the right direction. But we need so much more if high streets are to thrive. Planning could be easier. We need to see local authorities instructed to work with businesses when developing local plans. We want to see accessibility to towns improved with public transport and a different approach to the provision of parking.

We have been talking to Labour to discuss our thoughts and ideas. There is a commitment to the high street, but actions will always speak louder than words.