No Wonder the High Street is Dying

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Britons are now by far the biggest online shoppers in the developed world.

Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that six out of ten British adults use the internet to buy products such as food, clothing, music or holidays.

This is twice the average of the OECD’s 34 member states, which include the US, Germany, Australia and France.

On average, just three out of ten people in OECD nations buy goods or services online.

Britons spent £68.2 billion on the internet last year, an increase of almost £10 billion on 2010, according to IMRG, a body which represents the UK’s online retailers. This is equivalent to £2,180 for every adult in the country.

By contrast, online spending in Denmark - which has the second highest proportion of internet shoppers in the OECD - averages around £1,000 per person per year, IMRG said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9054400/Britons-are-biggest-online-shoppers-in-developed-world.html

But this brings up a more interesting point that has been mentioned in recent threads....

As a nation we simply refuse to pay the price for UK manufactured goods, sold in high street shops.

Everyone wants a bargain, buying cheap imported goods for everyday consumption, and even for bigger ticket items going to look at them in shops, and then buying them online from a retailer that does not have to carry the costs of a retail premises and workforce so can sell them cheaper.

And we wonder why unemployment is up, manufacturing of everyday items is virtually non-existant, shops are closing, and the high street is doomed?

Seems quite obvious.... Buying cheaply comes with a price.

Graham_Devon

This report is pretty meaningless without context.

The reason people buy online in the UK (well, one of the biggest reasons) is that it's cheaper.

It's cheaper:

A) because we have places like Jersey under a seperate taxation system where we can import our goods.

because the high street is often expensive for stores to trade in, store prices are more expensive.

Put those 2 things together, and the internet makes things very much cheaper, therefore more people will use the internet.

If I could honestly get things like music, ink cartridges etc on the high street at the same price as I can from Jersey, then I'd be out in the high street buying it, as its more convinient than having to direct parcels all over the place as theres no one to accept them.

But I can't. The high street is often double the price for these goods and I have to pay for the privilege of paying double the price in terms of car parking charges.

I'm not sure the other countries listed would have quite such a discrepancy between internet and high street price.

And some of the data for some countries is comparing the UK in 2011 to countries in 2007. Seems open to some pretty big data inaccuracies.

nearlynew

The biggest problem, as in other areas of society, is the high property prices and rents that shopkeepers have to pay.

Road_Hog

It's quite simple. Councils hate motorists. People with cars tend to spend more money than those on public transport. You have a boot, great for transporting weekly shopping or heavy items.

Councils will only be happy when the high street is devoid of cars and consists of boarded up shops, Poundland and charity shops.

macaque_2

There are probably lots of reasons but one obvious one is cost.

Rent and rates for a decent high street shop can be over £50 a square foot. To that you have to add shoplifting (the Brits have become a very light fingered race) and punitive council parking charges.

Alternatively you can get a warehouse with rent and rates for less than £5 a square foot with no shoplifting. Delivery costs are less than council parking charges.

wellused

The rest of the world will soon catch us up don't worry they always do!

Aquamarina

I blame the giant supermarkets myself. I've seen a small town die when Sa!nsbury opened a large store.

Aquamarina x

StevieJ

As I mentioned in another thread, maybe Brits are more technologically proficient, after all the UK has provided the world with the most inventions, in fact if my memory serves me right a Brit invented the WWW

[Deleted User]

the busiest time for online shopping is obviously december,last year many online retailers were beset with delivery problems caused by the snow,so the increase 2011v2010 isnt as good as it looks,and is behind trend for recent years growth

Thrugelmir

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

As a nation we simply refuse to pay the price for UK manufactured goods, sold in high street shops.

There's no indication of Liberty, Harrods or Fortnum and Mason going bust.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The reason people buy online in the UK is that it's cheaper.

No kidding.

And there I was thinking it was for some other reason.....

It's cheaper:

We know.

the high street is often expensive for stores to trade in, store prices are more expensive.

Yes Graham, that's the premise of the thread.

the internet makes things very much cheaper, therefore more people will use the internet.

:wall:

If I could honestly get things like music, ink cartridges etc on the high street at the same price as I can from Jersey, then I'd be out in the high street buying it, as its more convinient than having to direct parcels all over the place as theres no one to accept them.

The high street will never be able to compete with a retailer that can locate in the middle of nowhere and that has to pay a fraction of the price for staff, space and rates.

But I can't. The high street is often double the price for these goods and I have to pay for the privilege of paying double the price in terms of car parking charges.

Then why on earth would you be surprised if high streets are dying?

It's primarily the fault of you and everyone that thinks like you...

You choose to shop elsewhere because it's cheaper. So high street shops will close and fewer people will have a job.

Simples.

I'm not sure the other countries listed would have quite such a discrepancy between internet and high street price.

They do.

Those same commercial realities exist everywhere.

It will always be cheaper to operate one warehouse in the middle of nowhere with a website than a chain of 100 shops on high streets up and down the land.

So either pay the price to keep your high street shops open and trading, or don't complain when they close and people lose their jobs.