With the UK’s biggest cities having lost nearly a year of sales to Covid-related downturn, city centre retailers must adapt to the new commuter peaks and troughs that come with hybrid working.

Andre Hordagoda, Co-CEO & Co-Founder of Go Instore made the following comment: 

“Declining commuter footfall in cities has been a significant blow for retailers paying a premium to be in city centres. Despite the end of the government’s work from home guidance, hybrid working is the new standard, so we can expect this challenge to continue.

Less commuting means consumers will continue to engage with technology-enhanced shopping experiences. Experience is expected to overtake both price and product as a competitive advantage so, city centre retailers should look to innovate their offering to keep up with new shopping habits.

Better harnessing of customer data would mean bricks and mortar retailers are no longer shooting in the dark, giving customers exactly what they want, where and when they want it. For example, data analysis can inform a store’s optimal opening times to match the hybrid working routine. If your analytics identifies a spike in commuter traffic in city centre stores on particular days of the week, it can then recommend which days these shops should stay open. On days when people tend to work from home, retailers should put their space to good use by having staff available exclusively for live video shopping or to act as a dark store.”