Agile Retail’s new industry report explores how high-street property can thrive with short-term, flexible leases that prioritise experiences

With UK retailers reopening in the wake of the latest coronavirus lockdown, Agile Retail looks at what has changed in the last 12 months and questions how the property industry will evolve to survive in the future – with short-term retail leases representing a possible solution. They have compiled their findings in their first Industry Briefing, Fixing Retail Stores: 2021 and Beyond.

The past year has had a significant impact on the retail industry – with the physical store bearing the brunt of misfortune. According to data compiled by PwC and Local Data Company, over 17,500 stores closed in 2020, highlighting the toll that COVID-19 has had on the sector, and demonstrating how the pandemic has accelerated trends we were already seeing.

With many consumers heading to online competitors, traditional retailers and high street brands have lost vital footfall. This has resulted in serious concerns about the future of the physical retail industry and its value in the market. After COVID-19, what does the retail landscape look like, and what does this mean for landlords and property managers who rely on a strong retail presence to continue to thrive?

Agile Retail was developed to meet this challenge and offer a working solution. As a product of established experiential marketing agency iD, Agile Retail was set up to help retailers create flexible, efficient stores that can be developed in weeks, instead of months. With a focus on short leasing and scalability, the Agile Retail proposition has developed into a solution-led, semi-permanent model that is designed to help brands, retailers and properties evolve in the new industry landscape.

On Agile Retail’s mission, Marcus Fox, Group Managing Director of iD, said, “Agile Retail has been designed to solve the big problems plaguing physical retail today – a total lack of relevance and inspiration, and legacy structures and ways of operating that stifle innovation and adaptation. We are changing that.

Fox continues, “Agile Retail gives businesses the opportunity to create an amazing, inspiring, and profitable retail experience which we know will resonate with today’s consumer, whilst providing staffing, operations, and property solutions that enable nimbleness, and fleetness of foot, to adapt, test and pivot at a much faster pace.”

In an effort to support the retail industry, and property managers within it, Agile Retail have created a new report that outlines how the role of retail stores can be redefined – and why they need to change or risk becoming irrelevant.

Agile Retail’s report highlights that the very purpose of physical stores has shifted. Not just during COVID, but over many years, as online competition has grown. Stores are no longer solely about acquiring sales from consumers; they are now part of a wider, multi-channel offering that exists in tandem with one another.

Retail stores have undergone a seismic shift from a place of sales to a point of service. Customers want to have the option to make a purchase in a store but that may not be their only or even primary objective; they may also expect to experience products, have their senses stimulated, process a return or collect an order made through a different channel.

Introducing ‘Agile Retail’ Properties

In response to the disruption to retail during the COVID-19 pandemic, Agile Retail have developed an entirely new solution for developing physical stores. One that shifts the focus away from prime location and long-term leasing for localism, convenience and short-term agreements that prioritise agility for everyone involved.

The basis of this approach is that property that was once considered premium is no longer as tenable. Brands must be able to pivot their strategy to be where their customers want them to be. According to Gartner over 40% of workers are likely to work remotely at least some of the time, meaning huge numbers of people simply won’t be returning to city-centres.

This will severely impact retailers and property investors that usually work on long-term leases – forcing them to become flexible.

As the UK emerges from COVID, it will no longer be practical or affordable for brands to commit to long-term leases with little opportunity for exit. There is a world of opportunity open to those who can think differently about their physical retail estate.

A pop-up store format could be in a seasonal holiday destination as part of a brand promotion, or within a larger multi-brand space in collaboration with like-minded brands within your customers ecosystem. Savvy brand partnerships or sub-leasing opportunities take advantage of existing footfall to an area or product that already attracts target customers.

It is important for retailers to acknowledge that building a successful physical presence isn’t just about marketing, it is a far more strategic mix – even brands with an established footprint of physical retails stores should be thinking about portfolio diversification in favour of some additional, agile, or responsive spaces. Incumbency and reluctance to unbalancing an existing estate is no reason to accept inflexibility for the future. And this could be the decision that sees more retailers fade into obscurity.

Likewise, property owners need to open themselves up to the possibility that short-term, flexible leasing can be a way to diversify and develop in the new-age of retail. By creating more opportunities for retailers to access space periodically, owners can create more demand and open up new revenue streams that may not have been available in a fixed, long-term renting model. Agile Retail’s report highlights that the development of the retail industry isn’t just for brands to sit up and take notice of, it’s for everyone evolved to see the opportunity and to experience it together, for the collective advancement of the sector.

By providing a platform for retail business owners to reduce the heavy commercial overheads and high capex spend that comes with traditional stores, and offering property managers a way to diversify, Agile Retail is helping to reinvent the future of retail and give it a survival option post-COVID.

On the future of retail, Agile Retail’s Retail Transformation Advisor, Rick Murray, opined:

“Retail itself is not dead. But brands that succeed post-COVID will need to be agile and innovative to survive. They will need to connect directly with customers for the long term and be transparent about their products and how they operate. We will see them pop up on our high streets or wherever they are in the most demand. Connecting with customers and gaining their loyalty is the most important thing retailers will need to focus on in 2021 and beyond.”

For more information on the transformation of physical retail, download Agile Retail’s Industry Briefing: Fixing Retail Stores: 20201 and Beyond.

Agile Retail
Office | 24/25 The Shard Quarter, London, SE1 9SG
Email | dan@betteragency.co.uk

Agile Retail is a modular system of carefully developed retail solutions created by the experiential agency, iD. Agile Retail helps business owners to reduce the heavy commercial overheads and commitments that come with running a large retail team and trading operation.

Working closely with carefully selected partner brands, iD’s team of highly experienced Agile Retail experts tailor a completely bespoke retailing package, from conception and design through to launch, trading, and beyond. Bringing together award-winning knowledge of cut-through brand experiences to help brands reinvent the future of retail.

Already in the marketplace, iD has operated over 26 retail stores on behalf of their partners within the past 24 months, providing a fully outsourced solution and enabling market access for new and fast-growing brands from multiple sectors.

This release was published on openPR.