Are Physical Retail Stores Still Needed with the Rising Adoption of E-Commerce in the UK?
By William Bevis
Abstract
This paper covers both perspectives of the argument regarding the decline of the high street in the UK. Is the high street dead, or just evolving? By reviewing previous academic research, this paper covers how businesses have been affected by the rise in e-commerce, how businesses have adapted existing strategies to boost physical store sales and what reconstructive strategies businesses have implemented to entice more consumer interest, whilst determining how successful these strategies have been. The paper concludes by highlighting that some physical retail stores are evolving to have a symbiotic relationship with e-commerce to boost customer sales. However, for the high street to survive, more businesses need to adopt Click and Mortar (CAM) or consumer experience-focused strategies.
Introduction
It has been argued that the high street is dead or at least declining (Hubbard, 2017). And with the sales through physical retail stores declining (Rhodes and Brien, 2014), driven partly by the rise in online shopping (or E-commerce), research dictates the argument has some grounds. However, some claim that the high street is in fact not a thing of the past by any means and is in a transitional period (Jones and Livingstone, 2015). They argue that instead, the high street is evolving beyond the idea of a place that’s sole purpose is to showcase and sell goods.
This paper aims to address the fundamental questions regarding the rise in online retail and decline of the UK high street over the last two decades. Are physical retail stores still needed? Do companies still find physical retail stores essential to their business model? And what does the future of the high street look like? To fully answer and understand these questions, we must consider how businesses have changed their strategies regarding retail and how successful these changes have been. By doing so, we can gain a greater understanding of where the high street is heading and how these changes influence the future of retail. (Johnson et al. 2008, p.3) define strategy as “the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations.”
Since the mass adoption of online retail, academic interest around the future of the high street has massively increased, with studies highlighting how its demise and e-commerce’s success has impacted the economy (Rhodes and Brien, 2014), the commercial property market, consumer spending habits and corporate interest in opening physical locations. However, further research indicates that physical stores are still extremely useful and profitable for businesses. Throughout this paper, evidence of this has been provided by academic research, studies and case studies of businesses that have changed, or are in the process of changing their strategies regarding the use of retail outlets across the UK.
This literature review starts with how and why e-commerce became a major platform for retail, in most markets and demographics. Understanding how and why e-commerce became a dominant form of retail, is essential to fully grasp what problems businesses now face and how these problems can be solved with a reinvention of the high street as we know it. The topics covered include, how and why e-commerce became a leading form of retail, the benefits of e-commerce for businesses and consumers and the consequences of this transition.
The paper then focuses on how brands have adapted to the continuing growth of e-commerce. The topics covered include the adoption of an online-only business model and how brands have adapted existing strategies to entice customers into their physical retail locations. The final segment of this review looks to the future of the high street, regarding what strategies existing businesses have introduced that reconstruct the fundamentals of a retail store, to entice more consumer interest. The paper then concludes with a summary of the academic research that determines a final answer to if the high street is dead or just evolving, whilst addressing the issues that must be solved for it to continue to be a beneficial opportunity for businesses.
The Rise in Online Retail
The Rise of E-Commerce
The high street was first introduced as a place where people could gather to drink, eat and shop. However, this started to change in 1979, when online shopping or e-commerce was first introduced by Michael Aldrich (Aldrich, 2011). Although it took multiple years before e-commerce started to rapidly be adopted by businesses, it now covers a significant proportion of the market. Between January 2007 and January 2021, the proportion of online sales compared to total retail sales grew over 35% (Lewis, 2021a). The growth of e-commerce was fuelled by major advances in technology over the last two decades, with the popularisation of smart devices and social media being a significant influential factor (Lin, et al. 2019), especially by the younger generations.
Although there is no universal agreement on e-commerce’s definition, (Piris, et al. 2004)’s definition refers to an agreed fundamental belief that e-commerce is about business activities that are electronically conducted. (Piris, et al. 2004; Turban, et al. 2002) further elaborates on this by introducing the idea that e-commerce is not only about purchasing and selling, but includes collaboration with business partners, service for customers and conducting business internally. Although there are said to be six types of e-commerce, this paper will be focusing on Business to Consumer (B2C), as it is more relevant to the question at hand.
Benefits of E-Commerce
(Piris, et al. 2004; Currie, 2000) highlights the main benefits of e-commerce, over physical retail locations, for businesses being reduced office space, enhanced customer visibility, superior competitive position and improved relations with customers. (Pratminingsih, et al. 2013) have concerns with the argument of e-commerce improving relations with customers, as they believe it can disconnect businesses further from its customers, leading to less brand loyalty and customers looking to purchase goods from competitors. What (Piris, et al. 2004) evaluates as one of the benefits has not been fully supported by all academics, as additional research discusses that consumers are more engaged with the brandsexperience when shopping in store.
The (OECD, 1999) comments on the advantages of how scalable the internet is in allowing small businesses to benefit from the advantages of the large, in terms of expanding their customer reach and transactions. Whilst the enhanced visibility of consumers is a major added benefit that relates to a superior competitive position, especially with smaller local owned retail stores, it seems that there is the disadvantage of losing brand loyalty, that may be attributed to a reduced human interaction with consumers (Lyons, 2021).
However, the benefits to customers are believed to be more of a crucial reason why e-commerce has rapidly become a favourable form of retail. The benefits detailed here include being able to purchase a product at any time of the day, a larger variety of products being available to purchase, the convenience of products being delivered to your door and the ability to compare prices instantly (Mordue, 2021). There is a general academic agreement that these are the main reasons why consumers choose to shop online. Despite the growth in e-commerce (Lewis, 2021a), research suggests that consumers are still far more likely to buy a product if they have seen it in person (Lyons, 2021). However, the convenience factor or e-commerce for consumers could outweigh the need to see the product in person. Especially with the rise of social media, where online reviews of products can persuade consumers to purchase without viewing the item in person.
Planning permission from councils has become both more difficult to acquire and more expensive to pursue (Peel and Parker, 2017), which is a difficulty that has caused reduced interest from businesses looking to have physical locations. It has become more appealing for businesses to focus their attentions on e-commerce, as with physical stores, fees such as rent, bills and tax being an unnecessary additional cost, rather than utilising postage services and operating using a central distribution centre. Considering that businesses with physical retail stores already utilise distribution centres, the additional costs are a loss in revenue for businesses that have lower sales through physical retail stores and switching to an online-only business can be viewed as the intelligent direction.
Measures, such as reduced tax on sales or planning permission overhauls have been suggested to make it easier for independent stores to compete with larger businesses, especially smaller businesses and start-ups (Peel and Parker, 2017). This would be comparable to the lower rates for charity shops, which have allowed for more stores to appear in towns across the country. Whilst this would solve some issues surrounding high street store sales vs e-commerce, it would not be sufficient to entice more consumer interest but would still be beneficial to businesses.
The Consequences for Businesses
The consequences for businesses that have not adapted to the rise in online retail are great. They now face being at a competitive disadvantage to their competitors that have introduced an online store or have moved to an online-only business model. With (Grimsey et al, 2013) finding 46.6% of retailers in the UK are classified as being in serious risk of failure. Grimsey continues by suggesting that key stakeholders in town centres must identify obsolete retail locations, or those in danger of becoming obsolete, as it is a key issue. Grimsey raises valid judgements, including creating a level playing field in town centres, however, forgets to mention the cost of implementing these actions.
Stores who sell goods that are easily accessible online, such as books, clothing, etc, have been shown to have reduced sales numbers, largely due to e-commerce (Whewell and Souitaris, 2001). Whilst some businesses are outliers to this trend, it seems to be the case with falling numbers of these products on the high street. However, the validity of if this is purely down to e-commerce or simply lack of consumer interest needs to be further researched, along with the fact the source is from 2001, so data has most likely changed.
(Wright, 2022; Lewis, 2021b) refers to a rise in online-only retail stores, that was reported to be a 13.4% increase in 2020/21, with the number of physical retail locations rising 1.3%, despite multiple lockdowns in those years. Despite this rise in physical retail store numbers, there is an industry agreement that the rise in e-commerce will lead to a considerable decline in retail spaces, with varying predictions of the scale of the decline (Jones and Livingstone, 2015). As this is the industry agreement, it seems likely that the number of retail stores will decline, however this may be more down to the closure of chain business locations. The British Retail Consortium estimated a total of 85,000 retail jobs to have been lost between October 2018-2019 (Mordue, 2021), largely believed to be down to corporate restructuring plans.
However, contradictory to this, there is an argument made that the number of independent retail stores will increase in the high street. Further research needs to be gathered around the type of retail stores that will be closing, e.g., clothing, books, etc, as despite the growth in online and decline in high street retail sales numbers, the food industry has not been as affected. In fact, (Dawes and Nenycz-Thiel, 2014) found that in 10 categories in leading UK grocery stores, most online shoppers were also in-store shoppers. However, what was interesting here is that Dawes and Nenycz-Thiel found that customers have higher brand loyalty online than in-store, defying the rest of the retail market data and previous academic research. However, as this is only one study, it is an outlier, so more research should be conducted.
How Businesses Have Adapted
The Adoption of an Online-Only Business Model
Due to the mass adoption of online sales (Lewis, 2021a), businesses have identified the need to change their strategies regarding physical retail. A change in consumer habits and the threats of rival businesses who have changed to an online-only business model, mean that the businesses who do not adapt would be at a competitive disadvantage and could subsequently die. However, some businesses have made the decision to transition to an online-only business model. GAP, the clothing giant, is one of these businesses. They recently announced in a press release (Gap Inc, 2021), that they would be closing all their UK stores and more stores in other European countries. This meant that a total of 81 stores would close and a potential of over 1000 jobs would be lost.
This change in strategy was attributed to a reduce footfall of traffic entering their stores and the consequences of multiple lockdowns. However, for GAP this seems to be an intelligent strategy, as the company can benefit from no rent/leasing costs and reduction in staff to pay. Instead, in the UK they will be partnering with Next, to use their distribution network and in the future, possibly include pop-up stores inside Next’s physical stores. Therefore, GAP still has the added benefit of brand recognition in stores whilst saving on expenditures, albeit compensating Next for their services. However, what this paper does not comment on is the issues surrounding start-up businesses using an online only business model. Start-ups that launch with an online only business model, have no overhead store costs, and can ship their products or services from a warehouse. However, these do have their disadvantages, as referred to by (Pratminingsih, et al. 2013).
(Lin, et al. 2019) introduces the importance of trust for e-commerce businesses and concludes that it is a real risk surrounding their success, especially businesses who are start-ups. Without significant advertising and brand recognition that consumers can follow, possibly in the form of social media, online-only businesses can be unsuccessful, due to this lack of trust from new consumers. (Piris, et al. 2004) also introduces the idea of existing organisations having a lack of trust with e-commerce, because of previous failed endeavours.
How Businesses Have Adapted and Evolved Existing Strategies
Whilst the businesses that have moved fully online are at a competitive advantage to those who are not, it does not mean they are at an advantage to businesses that utilise both. (Weltevreden and Atzema, 2013) introduce the adoption of a Click and Mortar strategy (CAM). This strategy involves the use of both in store and online sales, merging the advantages and disadvantages of both retail options. In this paper, they do refer to the adoption of CAM as varied among different retail categories, however as this data is from 2013 it would be inaccurate for today’s market, especially given the rise of e-commerce in the last five years (Lewis, 2021a).
Despite the abundance of advantages that E-Commerce platforms have, there are still strategic motives, highlighted by (Lyons, 2021) that benefit businesses when having a physical store. Studies show that consumers are more likely to purchase products if they see them in person and are far less likely to return items that they have been bought in store. As less products are returned, the overall cost of returns for a business is reduced. When we look at online returns, the same advantage of e-commerce to consumers that (Mordue, 2021) stated is contradictory here, as consumers find it nearly as easy to make a return online from anywhere at any time. Compare this with customers who have bought a product in-store, who then must make the effort by traveling to return the product from the business it was purchased from. Whilst this is a difficulty for consumers, it does not address that customers still have to make the effort to post the item back to businesses, when returning a product online.
(Pezzini, 2021) comments on research where when a retailer opened a new physical store location, traffic to their website increases by 37%. So, the added benefit of the CAM strategic model is that by opening new stores, visits to a brands e-commerce website increases as well as the number of sales. (Pezzini, 2021) then introduces a study that found that shoppers who buy from both in-store and online were more likely to spend more on average than shoppers that use either in-store or online. Whilst this means businesses are likely to gain more sales from customers, the revenue generated may not match the overhead costs of running a physical store.
(Pezzini, 2021) adds another benefit, suggesting that businesses can conduct market research on shoppers whilst in store, including how they interact with the displays, products and staff. This is vital research that can help businesses understand more about their customers, especially for the smaller businesses. However, Pezzini fails to mention that it does not offer the same level of detail provided by online analytics when consumers use e-commerce platforms.
Click and Collect
Another strategy that businesses using a CAM model (Weltevreden and Atzema, 2013) implemented was the offering of click and collect services to online customers. This tends to be at no charge to the consumer across the industry, but some businesses charge for delivery to entice click and collect more to customers. However, consumers believe these services are only ideal when they live near a physical store (Jones and Livingstone, 2015). Whilst this is an issue, it benefits far more consumers that live near stores, especially large chain businesses. Research in this paper also suggests that click and collect services increase sales in stores as consumers find more products, they are interested in purchasing. Although this is again allowing for businesses to gain a boost in sales, the revenue generated still may not match the overhead costs of running a physical store.
Click and collect not only allows for businesses to increase sales but introduces the possibility for businesses to streamline their store infrastructure. This is referred to as locational obsolescence (Hughes and Jackson, 2014) and is what camera retailer Jessops focused on between 2013 and 2016. (Jones and Livingstone, 2015) details that Jessops conducted a major restructure of their store locations, reducing them from 187 to 51 within the three-year period. This strategy was implemented due to the rise in e-commerce, and Jessop’s adoption of click and collect. This allowed them to massively reduce overhead costs of running stores across they UK, by keeping the stores with the most customer footfall.
(Lyons, 2021) refers to these locations becoming Dark Stores, which can be used as part of the supply chain, with some businesses using storerooms as local warehouses to reduce the cost of inventory management and expand the reach across larger geographical areas. This may benefit businesses, but it puts pressure on the economy, as when more stores implement a locational obsolescence plan, more retail jobs are lost. Whilst this loss in stores from a single business can be seen as an issue, it opens the idea that when a business moves away from towns, competing independent businesses can fill the gap for the local community.
(Hughes and Jackson, 2014) argues that governments, the industry, or stakeholders should consider intervening with other opportunities, rather than locational obsolescence. For example, in 2016 fashion retailer Next had 61.1% of their UK store locations residing outside of towns, compared to 38.3% of store locations that resided in towns (Jones and Livingstone, 2015). Rather than closing stores and focusing on e-commerce like (Gap Inc, 2021), they opened more outlets in retail parks. And to further adapt their existing stores to customer demands, they combined male, female, and home stores to reduce the number of store locations and introduced coffee shops inside each store to entice customers to spend more time there.
Whilst these strategies are beneficial to all retailers, the larger retailers have had the funds to implement the move to online, as well as keeping stores open nationwide. Smaller businesses, however, have not, which has put added stress on local independent retailers. However, these strategies have not saved physical stores yet, with an uptake in e-commerce sales from the pandemic (Wright, 2022; Lewis, 2021b), consumers seem to be less hesitant about making more purchases online, especially for goods that they would normally only consider purchasing in-store.
The Future of The High Street
Reconstructive Strategies
Some existing businesses decided to change their strategies regarding physical retail stores entirely, by reconstructing the fundamental concepts of a physical retail store. Due to the result in the progression of economic value from delivering services to staging experiences, some businesses have reimagined stores as customer experiences or a place to promote the lifestyle of owning/using their products. This technique is seen more in the luxury retail space but is now being brought to retailers in other sectors. For example, the high-end fashion retailer Balenciaga has been changing its overall retail aesthetic and focus (Ingram, 2021). Balenciaga is exploring the use of 3D-Printed clothing that would be unique to each store. The idea is that their demographic would be interested in purchasing these goods as they are unique and unavailable to purchase online. And where each store would have unique products and experiences, customers would have favourite stores within a single brand. The brand design language would be consistent; however, each store would offer unique attributes. This method of offering new social experiences is supported by (Wrigley and Lambiri, 2014), however this specific service would only be justified by luxury retailers, who would be able to justify the cost of implementation, considering how much their demographic spend on their products. Stores can implement elements of this strategy, including selling unique products that are difficult to acquire online and experiences that are unique to each store location. This may add more value to a customer’s experience and keep them returning to the business’s physical store.
Some retailers have reconstructed their physical stores to be multipurpose, by using repositioning to rejuvenate the high street and increase consumer interest in their physical retail stores. A paper by (Millington and Ntounis, 2017) refers to repositioning as altering the perceptions of a brand through the rebranding of an existing product or service. An example of this is when Apple decided to combine the services it provided online with their physical stores through a form of product rebranding, as they treat their stores as one of their products (Alexis, 2016). With the introduction of the Genius Bar, to provide on-site customers services and repairs, consumers were able to solve issues with their existing products, whilst being surround by Apple’s other products, stimulating the click and collect effect. This later expanded through another store rebrand by adding educational lessons, where consumers could learn more about their devices and the ways they could use them. (Apple Inc, 2019) This is part of the reason surrounding Apple’s high levels of customer satisfaction. The research provided by (Millington and Ntounis, 2017) highlights the benefits of a dynamic repositioning approach in businesses, however, fails to mention the issues for adoption by small local retailers, such as management issues and high up-front costs. Instead, they recommend councils bring together stakeholders to form a local decision-making forum to make these strategies more dynamic for the local community. More research regarding the impacts of repositioning for smaller business would be useful for future reference.
The addition of more food and drink services within stores would also be considered a form of repositioning, as they attract new customers through adding new products in a new category. This would again utilise the click and collect effect, where consumers are far more likely to buy more items when entering the store for another purpose. (Wrigley and Lambiri, 2014) conducted a study finding that shoppers who engaged in a form of social or leisure activity would spend nearly double the amount of money and over double the amount of time when consuming some sort of refreshment. Their findings, however, may not be accurate due to the size of the demographic asked. The same study also indicated that those who shop with a family member or friend were also more likely to spend more than if they were by themselves. Therefore, if businesses can promote experiences that involve more than one person, they could possibly benefit from more sales.
(Wrigley and Lambiri, 2014) finds the experiential side of the high street, such as social interaction, cultural activities and overall atmosphere to be key factors that increases the time spent by consumers in the high street and can deter them from resorting to online alternatives. Whilst their findings may be accurate, they are based on data from 2014, so could be classed as outdated, especially with the rise in online commerce sale in recent years (Lewis, 2021a). However, there is a dispute made that the high street store cannot just be for sales only anymore, as there is not enough incentive for consumers to go into the stores when they can buy online, saving them time and money.
However, some businesses have tested reconstructing the stores functioning to provide the best place for customers to experience or interact with their products. One of these businesses is Sonos, a home audio company. When they first opened their store in Covent Garden, London (Tucker, 2017), it was an experience-based store, with its sole purpose being to provide the best listening experience for its potential customers. And whilst doing this, they did not have any products that customers could buy in store and used sales teams to order the products customers were interested in to their homes. Although this goes against the Dark Store strategy outlined by (Lyons, 2021), this strategy allows for companies to have smaller locations in populated areas, where they can market their products without having the same overhead costs from more staff and higher leases.
(Demko-Rihter and Ter Halle, 2015) investigate the possibility of bridging in-store shopping with online retail, by using e-commerce and retail apps to enhance the local shopping experience. The paper goes into detail on the benefits if businesses use an e-commerce platform and retail app in conjunction with brick-and-mortar stores, including gaining back customers who switched to online rivals. The paper then finished by outlining the importance of omnichannel (in-store and online) retail and how this is key for future businesses success. One key issue highlighted was user trust, which stems back to what (Piris, et al. 2004) said regarding consumers lack of trust with e-commerce. However, they referenced that businesses should push for brand familiarity, so that consumers feel the companies behind the app can be trusted. Thus, increasing the likelihood of the customers using the omnichannel experience.
Despite these new reconstructive strategies, (Phillips, et al. 2019) argues that the future of the high street is in the “recognition and reinvigoration of the town centres multi functionality”, whilst highlighting the idea that an aging society is not a problem to be solved when talking about high street issues to overcome. This is supported by (Higgs, et al. 2009), who also believes that the older generations are expected to play a larger role in consumer culture, as they understand it and are becoming increasingly confident when using technology.
Whilst Phillips’s points about reinvigoration align with the findings of (Wrigley and Lambiri, 2014), this is a strategy for councils to implement, rather than businesses, as they can repurpose town halls and public gardens to be multifunctional. Regarding their points on an aging society, they have some grounds as an increasing number of older generation are becoming users of new technology, however there are concerns that those of an older generation find it easier to shop in-store rather than online. This should be a topic for further research.
(Lyons, 2021) tells us that human interaction plays a key role in persuading consumers to purchase goods, as quality customer service leads to increased sales, especially for the luxury market. Customers can be seen to come back to businesses after having a good experience and it is easier to have a memorable customer experience through sales assistants in store rather than online. Although this report tells us human interactions with store assistants boost sales, there is no mentions of the sectors they best function in. Not all retail sectors, require retail assistants to sell products to consumers, specifically when we focus on products promoted on social media. The accuracy with this information can be seen as limited. Therefore, more research regarding human interactions role in sales should be conducted.
Conclusion
Throughout this review we investigated how businesses have adapted to the rise in e-commerce and ways in which these businesses could introduce new strategies to compete with their competition. Some argue that the future lies in the form of a virtual high street, that is constructed online to incorporate the shopping experiences of the physical high street, but the literature provided indicates that there are many advantages to having a physical store. What has been highlighted is that there is need for both online and physical retail stores and the future of retail relies on symbiotic relationship between e-commerce and physical stores. Businesses that use a CAM business model, of both in-store and online retail, are believed to be at a competitive advantage compared to their rival businesses.
Businesses that have transitioned to experience based store models find that their stores are a direct way to communicate to their customers about their vision and ideas. As seen in the high-end fashion world, although stores are less packed with products to purchase, customers enter because the stores are interesting. By using engaging displays and services to provide unique experiences, stores can keep customers returning. But with the use of e-commerce, retailers can market their businesses to a vast number of possible new customers. High end stores such as Dover Street Market use their displays as a form of artwork to attract their desired demographic, with each display being unique to every store. This would be an area for further research, specifically the comparison between experience-based retail stores and generic retail stores, in terms of revenue, customer satisfaction and customer footfall.
However, there are still many businesses that have not started to adopt an experience or unique product-based retail strategy. It is now clear that for businesses with physical stores to survive, they must adapt by changing their mindset of traditional retail practises and working in conjunction with e-commerce to create a co-operative relationship that embraces the advantages of both physical and online. With local retailers having the same access to e-commerce, now at the lowest cost recorded, it gives them an equal opportunity to expand their market without much added cost. Now corporate retailers have moved their businesses either fully online or have reduced the number of their stores significantly, it presents an opportunity for local independent retailers to fill the gaps left by the corporate stores and to serve the local community. Further research should be conducted to determine if there is a rise in local retailers due to the decline in corporate retailers. Arguably the future of retail in town high streets lies with independent retailers.
So, to answer the questions that we aimed to address; are physical retail stores still needed and are they still essential for businesses? From the literature examined, it shows physical stores are still needed, but in conjunction with e-commerce. If businesses wish to have access to both more potential customers and keep these new customers engaged with their products, they must utilise both.
References
Aldrich, M., 2011. Online Shopping in the 1980s. Annals of the History of Computing, 34 (4), 57–61.Alexis, C., 2016. Apple introduces a new generation of stores[online]. FashionNetwork. Available from: https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/apple-introduces-a-new-generation-of-stores,697965.html [Accessed 10 Jan 2022].Apple Inc., 2019. Apple announces new Today at Apple sessions[online]. Apple Newsroom (United Kingdom). Available from: https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2019/01/apple-announces-new-today-at-apple-sessions/ [Accessed 10 Jan 2022].Currie, W., 2000. The global information society[online]. Available from: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/519731 [Accessed 19 Dec 2021].Dawes, J. and Nenycz-Thiel, M., 2014. Comparing retailer purchase patterns and brand metrics for in-store and online grocery purchasing. Journal of Marketing Management[online], 30 (3-4), 364–382. Available from: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=94773138&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 18 Dec 2021].Demangeot, C. and Broderick, A. J., 2007. Conceptualising consumer behaviour in online shopping environments. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management[online], 35 (11), 878–894. Available from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09590550710828218/full/html#idm46287481138208 [Accessed 2 Jan 2022].Demko-Rihter, J. and Halle, I. ter, 2015. Revival of high street retailing – the added value of shopping apps. Amfiteatru Economic[online], 17 (39), 632–645. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/168938 [Accessed 5 Jan 2022].Gap Inc., 2021. An Update on our Gap European Business: Partner to Amplify Strategy[online]. Gap Inc. Available from: https://www.gapinc.com/en-us/articles/2021/06/an-update-on-our-gap-european-business-partner-to- [Accessed 7 Jan 2022].Grimsey, B., Mitchell, P. T., Baker, M., Shellard, C., Sadek, J., Hood, N., Vasili, S., Pascoe, E., and Hopkinson, M., 2013. The Grimsey review: An alternative future for the high street[online], 5–48. Available from: http://www.vanishinghighstreet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GrimseyReview04.092.pdf [Accessed 29 Dec 2021].Higgs, P. F., Hyde, M., Gilleard, C. J., Victor, C. R., Wiggins, R. D., and Jones, I. R., 2009. From Passive to Active Consumers? Later Life Consumption in the UK from 1968–2005. Sage Journals[online], 57 (1), 102–124. Available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2008.01806.x [Accessed 9 Jan 2022].Hubbard, P., 2017. Reviving the High Street. The Battle for the High Street[online], 67–88. Available from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-52153-8_4#citeas [Accessed 21 Dec 2021].Hughes, C. and Jackson, C., 2015. Death of the high street: identification, prevention, reinvention. Regional Studies, Regional Science[online], 2 (1), 237–256. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681376.2015.1016098 [Accessed 22 Dec 2021].Ingram, T., 2021. Balenciaga Debuts Its Raw Architectural Concept In London[online]. Frame. Available from: https://retaildesignblog.net/2021/03/19/balenciaga-store/ [Accessed 10 Jan 2022].Johnson, G., Scholes, K., and Whittington, R., 2008. Exploring Corporate Strategy: 8th Edition. London: Prentice Hall.Jones, C. and Livingstone, N., 2017. The ‘online high street’ or the high street online? The implications for the urban retail hierarchy. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research[online], 28 (1), 47–63. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09593969.2017.1393441?src=recsys [Accessed 21 Dec 2021].Lewis, R., 2021a. Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales (ratio) (%)[online]. Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales (ratio) (%) - Office for National Statistics. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/timeseries/j4mc/drsi [Accessed 2 Jan 2022].Lewis, R., 2021b. Retail sales, Great Britain: November 2021[online]. Office for National Statistics. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/november2021 [Accessed 22 Dec 2021].Lin, X., Wang, X., and Hajli, N., 2014. Building E-Commerce Satisfaction and Boosting Sales: The Role of Social Commerce Trust and Its Antecedents. International Journal of Electronic Commerce [online], 23 (3), 328–363. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10864415.2019.1619907 [Accessed 22 Dec 2021].Lyons, L., 2021. Reasons why physical stores are still vital for retail. Bishop Fleming[online]. Available from: https://www.bishopfleming.co.uk/insights/reasons-why-physical-stores-are-still-vital-retail [Accessed 21 Dec 2021].Millington, S. and Ntounis, N., 2017. Repositioning the high street: evidence and reflection from the UK. Journal of Place Management and Development[online], 10 (4), 364–379. Available from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPMD-08-2017-0077/full/pdf?title=repositioning-the-high-street-evidence-and-reflection-from-the-uk [Accessed 19 Dec 2021].Mordue, L., 2021. How The Growth Of E-Commerce Has Affected The High Street. JDR Group[online]. Available from: https://blog.jdrgroup.co.uk/digital-prosperity-blog/how-is-ecommerce-affecting-the-high-street [Accessed 21 Dec 2021].OECD, 1999. Economic and Social Impact of E-commerce[online], (40). Available from: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/2011580.pdf [Accessed 17 Dec 2021] Peel, D. and Parker, C., 2017. Planning and governance issues in the restructuring of the high street. Journal of Place Management and Development[online], 10 (4), 404–418. Available from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPMD-01-2017-0008/full/html [Accessed 22 Dec 2021].Pezzini, G., 2021. Why physical stores are still vital for retail. LS Retail[online]. Available from: https://www.lsretail.com/resources/why-physical-stores-are-still-vital-for-retail [Accessed 21 Dec 2021].Phillips, J., Walford, N., Hockey, A., and Sparks, L., 2021. Older People, Town Centres and the Revival of the ‘High Street.’ Planning Theory & Practice[online], 22 (1), 11–26. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649357.2021.1875030 [Accessed 8 Jan 2022].Piris, L., Fitzgerald, G., and Serrano, A., 2004. Strategic motivators and expected benefits from e-commerce in traditional organisations. International Journal of Information Management[online], 24 (6), 489–506. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401204000957#bib4 [Accessed 19 Dec 2021].Pratminingsih, S. A., Lipuringtyas, C., and Rimenta, T., 2013. Factors Influencing Customer Loyalty Toward Online Shopping. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance[online], 4 (3), 104–108. Available from: http://www.ijtef.org/papers/268-CF3004.pdf [Accessed 4 Jan 2022].Rhodes, C. and Brien, P., 2014. The retail industry: statistics and policy. Economic Policy and Statistics[online]. Available from: https://moderngov.middlesbrough.gov.uk/Data/Executive/201503171300/Agenda/att1005416.pdf [Accessed 21 Dec 2021] Tucker, E., 2017. Sonos' London concept store has cabin-shaped listening rooms[online]. The Spaces. Available from: https://thespaces.com/sonos-concept-store-london/ [Accessed 10 Jan 2022].Turban, E., Outland, J., King, D., Lee, J. K., Liang, T.-P., and Turban, D. C., 2018. Electronic Commerce 2018: a managerial and social networks perspective[online], 253. Available from: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-58715-8 [Accessed 19 Dec 2021].Weltevreden, J. W. J. and Atzema, O. A. L. C., 2006. Cyberspace Meets High Street: Adoption of Click-and-Mortar Strategies by Retail Outlets in City Centers. Urban Geography: The Internet, Changing Mobilities and Urban Dynamics[online], 27 (7), 628–650. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2747/0272-3638.27.7.628?needAccess=true [Accessed 4 Jan 2022].Whewell, J. A. and Souitaris, V., 2001. The impact of Internet trading on the UK antiquarian and second‐hand bookselling industry. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy[online], 11 (4), 296–309. Available from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10662240110402759/full/html [Accessed 10 Jan 2022].Wright, G., 2022. The number of high street shops rise despite Covid lockdowns last year[online]. Retail Gazette. Available from: https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2022/01/the-number-of-high-street-shops-rise-despite-covid-lockdowns-last-year/ [Accessed 11 Jan 2022].Wrigley, N. and Lambiri, D., 2014. HIGH STREET PERFORMANCE AND EVOLUTION: A brief guide to the evidence[online], 1–22. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dionysia-Lambiri/publication/264421884_HIGH_STREET_PERFORMANCE_AND_EVOLUTION_A_brief_guide_to_the_evidence/links/53ddeacf0cf216e4210c28eb/HIGH-STREET-PERFORMANCE-AND-EVOLUTION-A-brief-guide-to-the-evidence.pdf [Accessed 22 Dec 2021].