Britain | Retail trends

Popping up everywhere

Amid a great migration online, a few e-retailers open real-world outposts

THE conventional wisdom has been that an increasing volume of business will inevitably be done online, and so bricks-and-mortar shops are surplus to requirements. The shuttered remains of video stores and out-of-town supermarkets are testimony to the swathe that the internet has cut through Britain’s retail sector. And there was further evidence of the trend this week when the discount supermarket chain Aldi announced that on top of its 600 or so stores it will start selling goods online next year. This will add to the pressure on its rivals such as Tesco and Morrisons. Their sales have been battered by Aldi’s cheaper prices, and one response has been to close stores, in order to save costs, and sell more online.

But it’s not all one-way traffic in favour of internet shopping. Indeed, in some corners of the retail world, businesses that were originally online-only are now rediscovering the old-fashioned virtues of the high street. Boden, one of Britain’s most successful fashion retailers, with annual sales of about £280m ($425m), has been mail-order and online-only (except for one store) since it was founded in 1991; it announced on September 14th that it will open several new shops in Britain.

Rapha, which sells high-end gear for well-heeled cyclists, was founded online in 2004, but two years ago set up its first physical outlet in central London. Most of what the company sells online can be bought in the outlet, but it’s more than just a shop. Cyclists meet to start rides together, watch the Tour de France over cappuccinos or buy specially designed cycling snacks.

These stores are more “brand ambassadors” than shops, explains a Rapha spokeswoman, to rake in customers that the internet cannot reach. Rapha calls them “cycle clubs” and has opened nine of them around the world, which attract 130,000 people a year. It has plans to open ten more in America. Analysts call this “showrooming”. Joshua Bamfield of the Centre for Retail Research argues that these sorts of stores are “useful additional ways of marketing”, especially for retailers who want to get into big stores such as Selfridge’s.

It is particularly important for businesses whose customers would like to feel the products. Thus Orlebar Brown, which sells beachwear, started online in 2007 but since 2011 has opened five stores in London as well as in France and America. “It would have been much harder to grow the brand without the shops,” says Christophe Brumby, the head of marketing. He says this sort of business needs a “physical touchpoint, which you control”.

Another recent trend, for “pop-up” shops, has helped these businesses to navigate their way offline. Pop-ups hire spaces for just a few months to test the local demand, and then move on if it’s not working. The Rapha clubs started as pop-ups; Orlebar Brown has opened beachwear pop-ups just for the summer. One recent survey, by the telecoms company EE, estimates that one-third of all new retail businesses will soon be pop-ups. Some hope that they may save the high street. Now you see them, now you don’t.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Popping up everywhere"

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