Reinventing in-town retail

On the subject of physical retail, cities’ expectations and retailers’ efforts to adapt don’t converge as much as they could.

While the transformations underway in retail are creating difficulties for many a merchant, French distributors and retail chains have shown remarkable combativeness: Auchan, Monoprix, Carrefour, Fnac – Darty, Beaumanoir …

Which is what it takes, of course, to survive in a business that must redefine itself in the face of ferocious competition from Amazon and, to a lesser extent, from Primark (among others). Success will require a combination of highly integrated measures to:

• Rationalise operating costs, including that of real estate
• Reach customers wherever they are, across multiple formats
• Improve service and the shopper experience in stores and online, in synergy with each other.

Note that these three goals have a direct relationship with real estate and the urban environment.

At the same time, the “making” of cities is changing in reaction to the same technological and societal transformations. Is this trend in sync with that of retail?

In the call for projects “Inventing Greater Paris Metropolis,” which reflects the concerns of cities, as they are the ones that proposed the sites and set the guidelines, the role of retail appears circumscribed to:

• Enlivening the public space by occupying the ground floors
• Offering new concepts / demonstrating the modernity of the overall project
• Positioning the new district in the city
• Responding to the needs of the local population.

 

Though they don’t conflict, the concerns of retailers and those of cities are expressed differently.

Each to his own job, you might say, and let the confrontation of viewpoints spur new ideas? The Greater Paris competition has the merit of involving many retail and service companies in the design of the projects.

But the approach taken by this competition – and absolutely all others – arises from the premium placed on visible or architectural innovation or, of interest to us, new concepts in retail site programmes. It imposes lofty expectations on players in emerging fields: inter-company cafeterias open to all, concierge services, third places, urban agriculture, and a variety of social economy businesses.

With all attention focussed on these new players and concepts that are long on creativity but short on profitability as a retail business, how many established retailers, capable of investing in emblematic projects for the city of the future, were invited to participate?

Rather few, which raises the question of what is meant by innovation.

At a time when city centres are being deserted and retailers are struggling to rethink their business, the next call for projects should focus on Reinventing in-town retail.

It would certainly inspire original concepts, but also new approaches to integrating in the city centre the traditional activities that are essential to the local quality of life and attraction of the area.

The winners of the call for projects were announced on 18 October. Groups of economic operators were asked to come up with ideas to develop or restructure 51 high-potential sites across the Greater Paris territory.