Town Centres and the Changing Face of Business

In recent years, and accelerated by the recent downturn, we have seen out town centres change significantly. This includes the decline of the small local shops and libraries and the rise of the coffee and charity shop. This begs the question, what is the purpose of our town centres and what will they look like in the years to come?

The rise and exemptions of the internet

          Alot of these changes were caused by one thing, the internet. People can now buy their weekly shop or order their more expensive purchases online and have them delivered directly to their door. However, key factors will likely hamper this growing dominance and different industries will see this dominance present itself in substantially different ways.

          One factor that has put alot of people off using the internet is the poor customer service and vague nature of delivery times. Simply speaking, people find it easier and quicker to go out and buy things from the shops rather than wait around at home for hours on end for their purchases to arrive. Furthermore, alot of people often enjoy browsing around the shops for things to buy that they wouldn't have otherwise thought of if they had bought their purchases online.

          As such, the physical shopping environment will continue to have a place in our lives, at least for the next ten years or so, but this environment will continue to evolve and change. In the coming years, we will see this physical environment becoming more of an experience than a place of practical shopping necessity. This will see the rise of service based businesses such as coffee shops, restaurants, cafés and bars. One exemption to this rule would involve purchases where people want to see or feel an time before they commit to a purchase. A prime example of this would be clothes where people often want to try them on and test them out before taking the decision whether or not to buy.

          So, what further changes will we likely see in the years to come? Personally, I think we'll see key services that were once spread across town becoming increasingly centralised around the town centre. This will include services such as GP surgeries, hotels and health clubs. These services, I believe, will be vital to ensuring our town centres remain alive in the years to come. This is while more tangible physical purchases move to the virtual world as service quality improves and delivery times become more precise. This will see stores replaced by larger warehouse type stores located on the outskirts of towns. These stores will continue to see some people physically come into the store for their purchases but will increasingly serve an online clientele.

What will this mean for business?

          This changing face of doing business will also see businesses having to reorganise themselves, some more so than others. Businesses that have once relied on their in-store presence will now have to move their business, at least in part, to the virtual world. This will require significant investment in IT infrastructure, divestment from their physical stores and a complete reorganisation of their staff makeup. This change in staff will see fewer people providing face to face customer service type roles such as those on check outs and more packers, drivers and IT engineers.

          Due to the nature of this change, especially around staffing issues, such changes will take years to complete and will see large numbers of people being made redundant or have their roles changed. This will cause much upheaval and uncertainty especially for individuals who will be directly affected by such changes. However, the jobs lost will largely be replaced by new jobs being created. Agreed, this won't make it any easier for individuals who may lose out, this is why employers must do their best to relocate or retrain affected staff to fulfil the new roles the economy will create.

Conclusion

          In conclusion, town centres will increasingly become a service based experience rather than a physical necessity. As such, the business makeup of our town centres will become unrecognisable in the years to come as compared to years gone by. This will see physical product based businesses having to invest significantly in relocating, developing new IT infrastructure and having to reorganise their staff make up. This will take years if not decades to implement and will cost billions to follow through, but is arguably an unavoidable path in which we must follow.


Jason Cates