Shops and Online Retailers are like Jekyll and Hyde

It’s a challenging time for shopkeepers. Retail sales are stagnant while costs are rising rapidly. Landlords’ rents and local business rates continue to be set as if we’re still in an economic boom. As if this weren’t enough, competition from online retailers is getting stronger and they have all the cost advantages.

Strangely I’m in competition with myself. By day I’m Dr Jekyll running my shop Your Life Your Style in the centre of Winchester. As night falls, I become Mr Hyde the online entrepreneur with my website YourLifeYourStyle.co.uk. As Dr Jekyll, I’m a respectable member of the local community, paying my extortionate rent and taxes and serving the local people. As Mr Hyde, I can go like a mercenary wherever the costs are low- on an out-of-town industrial estate or an Enterprise Zone. I can even set up on the Channel Islands and sell my lower priced products free of VAT.

Mr Hyde’s online retail business also benefits from not needing a shop floor to display products or paying staff who stand around waiting for a customer. The work of picking and packing in a warehouse can be spread throughout the day (or would that be night in Mr Hyde’s case?). The consequence is usually lower prices, even allowing for shipping. Just look at what Amazon charges compared with Waterstones.

Of course, my online business is run from the back of my Winchester shop so it doesn’t benefit quite so much but even so it’s far more profitable per square foot than the front end.

It seems inevitable that Mr Hyde will eventually stand alone across much of the retail landscape. Dr Jekyll will no doubt retain a few flagship shops in key locations like London’s Oxford Street or Winchester’s High Street. The only hope for the good doctor and the many customers who still like to shop in person is a major revision of rents and rates to realistic levels.

Nevertheless, good luck to Henleys and Parklife Kids. It’s good to know the murderous Mr Hyde isn’t getting it all his own way. Of course I am writing these words of encouragement during the daytime. In a few hours, when darkness has descended, I fear my hands will once again be stained with shopkeepers' blood.

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