Has retail shot itself in the foot by letting Black Friday get out of hand?

It seems the much-hyped Black Friday has been somewhat of a damp squib this year. Retailers are quoted in some local newspapers as saying Friday 25th November was much like any other day, and some are even saying it was quieter than usual.

So what’s happened? Why did the retail scrum fail to materialise this year?

We can’t discount the current economic pessimism in the shadow of Brexit and a somewhat gloomy Autumn Statement. Neither can we underestimate a general feeling that life is getting more expensive. But it is very hard to believe people are tightening their belts to such an extent that they are forgoing the bargains offered on Black Friday; bargains that would certainly ease the financial load of Christmas.

Social media offers a more likely answer. On Facebook and Twitter there has been an obvious air of resistance in the run up to Black Friday. Countless memes were shared which scornfully denounced Black Friday and suggested people buy nothing instead. This wasn’t a coordinated campaign; more a general agreement between people that they weren’t going to be led by the nose by retailers.

The highly publicised Black Friday scrums of last year didn’t impress many people. This was uncivilised behaviour that few can sympathise with or would want to be associated with. At the same time, the refusal of companies like Tesco to immediately and strongly denounce the scrums had the feeling of smug satisfaction bordering on gloating.

One BBC news story even recounted how Tesco customers in Northampton were made to ‘sit like dogs’ before they scrambled for cut price meat. This didn’t paint a good picture for Tesco, and it wasn’t helped by their response focussing heavily of concern for customer safety. Where was the respect for customers? Where was the surprise that shoppers were acting like this?

The correct response from retail would have been to issue an immediate denouncing of the scrums; an admission that they hadn’t handled the situation well; and a promise they would put measures in place to stop it happening again. Instead it felt as if they were content with the situation and comfortable with an image of retailers throwing crumbs and delighting as they watched us plebs fight over them.

As we have seen in many areas of life recently, the true power of social media to galvanise and give focus to the moods of the population is increasingly obvious. It should certainly not be underestimated by the business world. The apparent failure of Black Friday 2017 is an example of such a power being exercised. It is also an example of the failure by retailers to respect customers’ intelligence. We will continue to shop, and we will increasingly take advantage of bargains as our budgets tighten, but we will do it on our own terms, not when a gloating retail community tells us.

Newport BID a crucial element of city regeneration

Thursday 19th June saw around 40 business leaders, councillors and others attend the opening of the Newport BID Office. The event included presentations by Martin Tressider of Queensberry who is managing the Friars Walk development, and Julie Vellucci, Head of Regeneration at Newport Council. A planned presentation by Inspector Mike Richards on the impact of the NATO Summit was postponed.

The presentations by Martin Tressider and Julie Vellucci were impressive. Martin's presentation included a CGI flythrough of the Friars Walk development. While I remain cynical that such a development is needed in Newport at this moment in time, I have made clear my belief that if it must happen, Queensberry are the best choice to deliver. But while it all looks very nice in CGI where the sky is always blue, I still fail to see how the me-too retailers and food outlets will transform Newport into a destination that can attract people away from Cardiff, Cwmbran and Bristol, and I worry that Friars Walk will only serve to further suck the life out of Commercial Street.

Julie Vellicci's presentation impressed me more. For the first time I got a sense that there was some strategy behind the council's thinking. This is what has always been missing in Newport. The tradition has been for scatter-gun tactics whereby good money has been thrown at various bad redevelopment schemes with no concept of integration or any 'bigger picture' thinking. 'If you build it, they will come' is a seductive line for a movie about a guy building a baseball field for ghosts, but it doesn't always work in real life.

However, Newport City Council has clearly done some good work in standing back and looking long and hard to analyse just what the centre of Newport is, and what can be done to inject some life and vibrancy into it. They have even managed to divide it up into logical zones that include a retail zone, creative & education zone, entertainment zone, and gateway - and at long last the council is looking at how it can work with landlords to make best use of the stunning buildings we have to create accommodation and get more people living in the city centre.

A lot of physical work has been done to improve the city centre, for example outside Newport Market and at the top of Commercial Street, and a lot more physical work is planned. It's all good positive stuff and it complements the bigger picture ambition for Newport as defined by reNEWPORT that sees Newport's future as a technology hub.

So where does the BID fit into this, and why is it so important?

In case you don't know, BID stands for 'Business Improvement District'. Many towns and cities across the UK have BIDs in place and in the most basic terms; a BID delivers services - street cleaning, security, events, marketing - paid for by businesses within the BID area, that are additional to those delivered by the council.

I have a great interest in a Newport BID as I've done a lot of work helping to promote the Bath Business Improvement District - an impressive BID that has achieved much, including high levels of street cleaning, security, and a full programme of events that attract major footfall, such as getting the likes of Nicholas Cage to switch on the Christmas Lights. So I understand fully what a BID can deliver. However, it could be argued that a BID in an already successful and thriving city such as Bath is more of a nice-to-have than a need-to-have.

For Newport, a BID is an absolutely-must-have.

It's widely agreed that Newport city centre has pretty much hit rock bottom. Both the daytime and night-time economies have declined dramatically and public perception is at an all-time low. The reasons given for why people stay away are also universal and generally centre on 'there's nothing there', 'it's scruffy and dirty', 'I feel intimidated', and 'there's nowhere to park'. While the arrival of Friars Walk may begin to address the first and (to a degree) the last of these common criticisms, the wider scruffiness and poor state of the city around it will certainly impact negatively on the success of Friars Walk. People will either have to walk through a decomposing and scruffy city centre to reach the shiny new development, or park within Friars Walk and not venture out. Again, this will impact on the rest of the city. The ideal scenario would be one where footfall happily passes in and out of Friars Walk.

A BID has the potential to dramatically improve the rest of the city centre and address both the scruffiness and its intimidating nature. These two negatives have done an immense amount to speed the latter stages of decline and especially to deter older people from visiting. So the sooner these problems are addressed the better. My yardstick for success is my mother-in-law. The day she feels inclined to visit Newport over Cwmbran and doesn't complain about the state of the streets or the beggers and winos that scare her, I'll know that Newport is, finally, on the rise.

Businesses in Newport have been surveyed as part of a Scoping Study for the BID (certainly worth downloading and reading) and their opinions echo those of the public at large. The perception of crime is the third highest concern for businesses (after vacant premises and parking) and tackling anti-social behaviour their second highest priority (after parking).

There is a process before Newport can have a BID (you can read all about it at http://newportbid.com/about/) and it involves a vote from businesses in the proposed BID area. But such is the pressing need for a BID that any business voting against it will be voting against their own survival. In my opinion, it's that important.

In fact, I would go as far as to say a BID would do more for Newport than the Friars Walk development. It would help support local businesses and increase footfall to the businesses that have hung in there, and which stand to have what little footfall there is tempted away to the multinationals in Friars Walk.

I've been impressed by the team working hard to set up a Newport BID. They have enthusiasm, drive and commitment that hopefully will help to convince businesses that it's the right thing to do. It's certainly in the interests of both Queensberry and Newport City Council that a bid is set up.