Liberating high street retail — insights from Ibrahim Ibrahim

Ibrahim Ibrahim is Managing Director of strategic retail design business Portland Design and author of ‘Future-ready Retail’. As part of our co-hosted Future of Retail and Placemaking conference series, he considers how consumers are changing and the way in which the high street is responding. 

Creating human-centric retail spaces

The retail landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade. New digital platforms, the pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis are just some of the factors that have contributed to a much broader shift in the way people and brands interact.

It’s fair to say that this evolution has been a challenge for the high street. If you are sat on thousands of square metres of concrete and glass, how do you adapt to meet such a fast-changing audience? Rather than seeing rapidly changing consumer trends as a challenge though, it’s important that the retail sector and those who design our high streets see this shift as a moment of liberation. Indeed, it presents an opportunity to re-invent retail spaces so that they create human-centric, vibrant spaces where people feel like they belong.

People and places

To maximise the opportunity though, we need to view this evolution through the lens of people and places, not buildings and spaces. We also need to focus on people, first and foremost, as citizens rather than consumers. By creating cohesive spaces that create community and cultural value, people are far more likely to become consumers.

High streets that succeed now and in the future will be those that understand the profile of their community, build a vision based on their experiences and needs and deliver a built environment to meet them.

The pillars of future readiness

Understanding the trends that influence their everyday lives is therefore key. In my book I talk about the pillars of future readiness that retail brands need to address through their stores. The first is that people live increasingly busy and complex lives — they need convenience and simplicity, facilitated by technology such as AI, to support ‘just in time’ living.

At the same time, consumers also want slower, more personalised and immersive experiences from brands when they do commit time to the high street. This is retail as entertainment and it is helping brands to create communities by hosting events in store that are also geared to be shared, amplified and enjoyed online.

Consumers are also prioritising, or at least preferring, to buy local — particularly since the pandemic. Local independent retailers are seen as more authentic and sustainable, so it’s unsurprising to see bigger brands responding by creating localised offers and collaborative spaces to nurture local independent partners.

Finally, consumers are increasingly making choices depending on whether a brand’s purpose aligns with their personal values. Research by Accenture has found that 40% of consumers have stopped using a brand because of the way it behaves. That can relate to sustainability, but also to mental and physical wellness.

Becoming place curators

All of this contributes to physical retail being seen very differently now than it was a decade ago. For retailers themselves, it’s an opportunity to become place curators rather than just leasers of boxes. In liberating the store and prioritising local communities, retail spaces have the potential to maximise the physical experience locally. Crucially, in doing so, brands can deliver experiences that generate brand affinity, clicks and sales through a digital audience that far surpasses that on the high street.