Retail

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Is the internet really destroying our high streets?

Increasingly, the convenience and cheapness of online retailers like Amazon is cannibalising independent firms and high street retailers. Many buyers skip the trip into town, or go there to assess the product and then buy it cheaper from the comfort of their sofa. As global capitalism continues its seemingly unstoppable growth, many wonder if we have reached “peak stuff”, thanks to years of high consumption. The switch to online shopping, combined with a slowdown in spending and rising costs from business rates and wages, has battered the profit margins of many retailers.

There is also a major shift underway in how consumers spend their leisure time, too – more often choosing to spend their spare cash on holidays and experiences rather than in shopping malls, and increasingly opting to entertain, dine and drink at home. Meanwhile, businesses such as beauty salons, barbers and health clubs are on the ascent, since their services cannot be replicated online, and for many countries there has been a massive surge in vaping shops, coffee houses, and ice cream parlours.

The growth in e-commerce is often cited as the main reason well-known retailers are struggling. But is taxing online firms the whole solution? After it was raised in the UK’s budget, the British high street momentarily looked set for rehabilitation. But 2018 has seen more closures across the country. Pubs, fashion outlets and estate agents are prominent among 24,205 closures recorded in the first six months of this year in the UK alone, and the number of shops, pubs and restaurants lying empty has soared by more than 4,400. And that’s just in Britain.

Every year, the crisis faced by huge numbers of shops and businesses costs tens of thousands of jobs across Europe and the US. Major chains have collapsed into administration this year while many others have been forced to seek legal agreements with their landlords to shut stores and slash their rent bills. Beyond retail, many towns are having to fight to save their local library, pub, nursery or community centre – the places that have always fulfilled a social function as well as a commercial one.

Yet, amid all this, it is easy to forget that, globally, the vast majority of sales – at least four-fifths – are still made in stores, as e-commerce giants have noted. The two worlds are still in the process of converging, so what might this mean for our communities, and is there hope yet of a resurgence?

We want to examine the effects of these retail shift on the lives of people across the world, and how it is impacting economies, democracies, and families. How are local businesses coping or adapting? And workers with specialist skills? How is the ‘warehouse culture’ affecting rates of job satisfaction and the welfare of individuals?

And importantly, what action can we take to help slow or even reverse the onward march of e-commerce giants, or at least make them only a part of the picture. We at the Guardian have covered how York’s Bishy road has cultivated the creation of what urban planners call ‘a sticky street’, where ‘time spent’ and enjoyment factor are the key aims of retailers, and we’ve explored how the ‘experience economy’ of a high street without actual shops could work. Our reporters have gone to areas like Bristol and Liverpool where local currencies have been trialled as a means of keeping profits in the neighbourhood. And we continue to examine whether taxing online retailers is the most effective thing that can be done to ease the situation.

The debate is ongoing, and we want to hear from you, wherever you are in the world, for this month’s podcast. Please do get in touch: we would like to hear your questions, views, experiences. How are the changes impacting your local area, the shops and stores you may have lost, and what positive action can be taken. To get involved, send an email to weneedtotalkabout@theguardian.com, including your question or comment, your name, and a phone number so we can call you to make a recording.

If you’d like to catch up with the podcast and previous discussions, you can do so at gu.com/talk-about.



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