Can we make the High Street Great Again?

Problem

Picture this, it’s a Thursday, you’ve just finished work and it’s your friend’s birthday tomorrow but you’ve completely forgotten to get her a present. It’s 5pm, you scan the high street and your eyes are met with closed doors, shutters down and a sinking feeling in your stomach. It begs the question why do retailers have to close when your night has just begun? Why should life have to stop after 5pm? If you’re asking the same questions then listen up. We at Cora and Spink proposed a 3 day late night shopping pop up experiment to test whether people wanted more from their high street. 

Experiment

Our hypothesis was simple: if mainstream stores sit shut in the evening then why can’t independent businesses take over and revive late-night shopping. For three nights, Cora and Spink took over a local hair salon from 6pm – 10pm with a variety of our bags on sale, refreshments on site for anyone popping in and browsing as well as hosting free live embroidery for anyone that purchased one of our products. The turn-out was encouraging for our first pop up. Over a third of people that visited left with a bag and over 70% personalised their bag with our free embroidery service. 

Humanity

But sales weren’t the only measure of success. 83% of customers had never heard of Cora and Spink before the exercise despite being stocked in 250 store locations. That statistic made us realise just how much gets lost when a brand primarily exists over a screen.

Over the years, we changed our business model to direct consumer rather than wholesale – we were anonymous behind the website. Consumers didn’t know the true integrity and values behind Cora and Spink which is why our customer relations are so meaningful to us. Some visitors didn’t buy anything, but they stopped to ask questions, discover the brand, follow us online and share our mission with others. For us, that interaction was just as valuable as a sale.

The local press really helped boost our exposure as many said they discovered our experiment through various articles and media posts. We believe this human aspect is the true missing essence of the high street that is slowly being forgotten. Perhaps the future of the high street isn’t about convincing people to shop more, but giving them a reason to come out in the first place.

Our aim was to make shopping an experience again, slow life right down, no more of this rushing around the deadline of closures. 

Verdict

I know what you’re all thinking, did this actually work? Did it serve what we came to do? Let’s talk numbers:

General Expenses: £2,125

Advertising – £270

Refreshments – £160

Wages – £750

Rent – £450

Fittings – £120

Van – £175

Retail – £200

Revenue: £3,382

Bags Sold – 116

Bags Embroidered – 75

Visitors – 400 (approx.)

Marketing Reach – 150,000

Website visitors – 6000

Conclusion

Would we do this again? 100% yes we would run it one night a month from 5pm – 8/9pm, different locations and live embroidery. This is a step in the right direction for the high street and we’d encourage other independent business to take this leap with us!