Redefining Retail: An Action Plan for London Bridge

Redefining Retail An Action Plan for London Bridge

#shoplondonbridge

A Retail and Leisure Vision for London Bridge

To curate a dynamic and evolving neighbourhood of contrasting and complementary experiences centred on a global reputation for food, commerce, history and culture.

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01 London Bridge excels as a leading place for global commerce and continues to develop as a pioneering centre for enterprise, culture and entertainment.

Retail and leisure’s role within this is to affirm London Bridge as a successful, vibrant, and sustainable destination that fully harnesses and benefits from the diverse and dynamic nature of the experiences on offer.

The importance of the retail and leisure sector to the local economy is recognised in the London Bridge Plan and New Southwark Plan.

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Key Retail hubs in and adjacent to the Team London Bridge BID area London Bridge Station Shard Quarter London Bridge City Bermondsey Street Tooley Street St Thomas Street Borough High Street One Tower Bridge Shad Thames Hay’s Galleria 11

Borough Market

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Background London Bridge has changed dramatically over the past decade.

This transformation includes the completion and launch of London Bridge City and The Shard Quarter, through to the major redevelopment of London Bridge Station.

One thing that has remained consistent throughout this time is the demand, and opportunity, for a dramatic increase in the retail and leisure offering across the area. London Bridge now comprises over 170 retailers from high street brands to independents, with the recent redevelopment of London Bridge Station containing Network Rail’s largest ever retail offering.

In an area that is recognised as one of the Capital’s leading locations for food and drink and home to world-famous attractions including Tower Bridge, this influx of shopping and leisure experiences challenges stakeholders to examine how together we can best support this burgeoning sector and promote the holistic offer of London Bridge.

This Action Plan accompanies the London Bridge Retail Strategy report. Commissioned

by Team London Bridge [TLB], the report was written by Kallaway and The Strategic Insight Consultancy Limited, in consultation with the London Bridge community.

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Retail in the UK

02 Retailers’ location strategies are changing.

Store sizes are reducing while convenience and accessibility are playing an even greater role. Plus, high density and affluent populations continue to increase across London.

The strong mix of high street aspirational retailers such as MAC, Oliver Bonas, Ted Baker, Comptoir Libanais and Cath Kidston choosing to locate to London Bridge Station are strong examples of this.

“Retail spaces once fought for people’s wallets. In the future, they will be fighting for shoppers’ attention” - Dimitrios Tsivrikos, UCL.

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London Bridge is well placed to be resilient in these challenging times.

Existing initiatives which push the community and experience agenda continue to thrive while the broad retail mix plays into the simplicity and convenience agenda from both a store size and location perspective.

To understand the direction of travel we must consider:

“We are looking at a future where brand is experience and experience is brand�

- Geoff Wilson, Household experience that evokes an emotional response.

Buying is a practical exercise that will increasingly be assisted or carried out by artificial intelligence

Engagement criteria Communities Communities are the new target groups; understanding the emotional mindset of values of consumers will trigger success

Wellness The rise of the wellness agenda continues with 75% of consumers expecting brands to make more of a contribution to their well-being and quality of life

Engagement criteria is evolving - Microsoft is reporting that human attention span has reduced from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds now (less than that of a gold fish)

Technology How technology can blend seamlessly with infrastructure – discreet and unobvious

Shopping vs buying Shopping is a leisure activity, an immersive, multi-sensory

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18.9% 2016 figures showed 56.5% of spend in the area is on food and drink, whereas just 18.9% is on retail

London Bridge Retail

03 Nearly 100 new retail units will have opened in London Bridge station, One Tower Bridge and the Retail Arcade alone by 2020. However, retail and leisure are not new features in London Bridge, with many established businesses trading successfully in the area for over 30 years. The offer is diverse, from convenient ‘grab and go’ stores and high street brands to one-of-a-kind restaurants, cafes, salons and craftsmen, while a significant pipeline of new developments will come into fruition over the next decade, increasing the density of retail and leisure space across the area.

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50,000 With around 50,000 people working in the area and 350,000 passing through London Bridge Station on a daily basis, the existing daytime audience is substantial and supplemented by surrounding residential populations and tourists

Top 10 London Bridge sits comfortably within the top 10% of retail locations in the UK and ranks in the top 10 in central London

People are primarily in London Bridge to sightsee, work, seek medical treatment or study.

Wanting to spend and knowing the offer is there to spend it on are two different challenges.

In London Bridge this translates into a lack of awareness. In addition, the time poor nature of the majority of people in London Bridge means the biggest potential challenge is an over-supply of retail and leisure choices, given the amount of time the footfall actually has available to experience what is on offer.

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What the community said “The Cultural Strategy has the opportunity to create unique experiences that can increase dwell time across the area – we need to make it an easy choice to stay”

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“London Bridge is so much more than just a station” “The biggest challenge for hospitality is to increase the length of stay in London Bridge”

“The key is finding a way for us all to work in partnership, for the wider benefit of the area”

It is about creating emotional connections with visitors, ensuring the area fulfils their changing needs throughout the day

“Although London Bridge has strong footfall, visitors are not confident enough to explore”

“We need to shout about all that is new in London Bridge on a regular basis, from a restaurant or bar to an event"

Consultation for the London Bridge Retail Strategy took place Nov 18 - Jan 19. Thank you to all the businesses and individuals that took part.

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Opportunities & Challenges

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Opportunities

Challenges

• London Bridge has a major transport hub

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Footfall is transient and fast paced, with no intention to dwell or seek out the offer

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Wayfinding and navigation is weak and challenged by ongoing development

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Poor sight lines continue to impact awareness

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Newly developed locations are still establishing themselves

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Competition for leisure spend across areas of London is high

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Potential communication channels to reach the audience are unaffordable or inefficient

• Strong ‘round the clock’ footfall seven days a week

04 London Bridge is not a traditional high street or shopping mall, and the leisure and retail sector here needs to respond in terms of the circumstantial opportunities and challenges that the area gives us.

The most significant of these can be identified as:

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• Varied retail offer with broad appeal • Existing marketing initiatives led by the Team London Bridge BID and local estate management • Long-standing reputation as a cultural hub; momentum of the Culture Strategy • Neighbourhood feel and characterful areas • Burgeoning reputation of food and drink offer

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Multiple gateways causing confusion

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Ongoing and imminent construction disturbance

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Perception as ‘just a station’ or ‘a place to work’

Convenience & experience; the best of both worlds?

Team London Bridge will continue to lead and respond to key emerging consumer and retail trends within its services.

In association with the local retail and leisure sector, Team London Bridge will continue to assess the balance between the simple convenience that London Bridge provides (and the resilience this has created in terms of spend and footfall), and the level and type of experiences that should be delivered in order to provide added value for visitors to London Bridge.

The London Bridge Retail Strategy and Action Plan focus on short, medium and long-term initiatives that have the ability to drive footfall and sales to support the retail and leisure offer, while extending the reach and impact of existing project streams.

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Strategic Priorities & Key Actions The initiatives and step change described in the London Bridge Retail Strategy can only be delivered through strong partnerships.

The core retail and leisure community in London Bridge may be well established, but the sudden influx of businesses requires a new approach that coordinates and communicates differently. A new set of business priorities demand that we engage in projects as a distinct retail community, with an appreciation of all factors that can contribute to the success of this sector.

These recommended actions build on the impacts considered in the Economy and Retail section of the London Bridge Plan.

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Communications 01 Awareness raising campaigns are required to evolve perceptions, adding value to what is already known about the area and focusing on the mindset of the consumer through different stages of the day.

‘Go to’ Reposition London Bridge as a place to ‘go to’, rather than ‘go through’

Locality Position the offer based on the number of minutes it is away and clearly reflect that on all mapping

Free time Understand the 5, 10, 15, 30 and 50 minute mindset through the day and reinforce what people can get access to during their precious free time 15

Socialising

Target emotions

Reflect the down time drivers towards 4pm when drinks, dinner after work or meeting friends may become more attractive

Articulate the energy and emotion at different parts of the day e.g.”grab lunch”, a quick bite, “chill out”

Be proactive

One voice

Be reactive to the environment with preprepared messaging for immediate distribution to drive evening spend

Consistency across all stakeholders in describing the identity and retail offer of London Bridge

Public Realm

02 The trading environment must be welcoming, conducive to spending time and useful in terms of navigation and providing information.

Asset audit Audit of assets (planters, hoardings, window vinyl etc.) to identify locations for short term initiatives to aid promotion and navigation

Signage Promote installation of further Legible London signage, identifying walking times from location site

Consistency Work with estate teams to achieve a consistency of signage and wayfinding

to react to changes in footfall and use, primarily in terms of cleaning and security

Planning

Activation

Respond to planning applications to ensure high quality of accessible, public spaces with thought given to future navigation and awareness building of retail and leisure offer

Promoting outdoor seating and enlivenment of trading environs through performance and cultural activities

Operations Utilising the services of Team London Bridge and local estate management 16

Community, Simplicity & Experience

03 Community is key to supporting a successful retail sector, both in terms of consumers as well as stakeholder partnerships. In the London Bridge Culture Strategy, the local community identified the potential of the local culture offer to support retail and leisure and utilise the fantastic assets we have in the area.

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Small & convenient

Events

Recognise the strength of the curated smaller store format, integration of click and collect and simplicity of choice with resulting convenience

Make sure events and cultural happenings provide opportunities for businesses to promote to new audiences whenever possible

Experience Extend “Love Lunch� style programme to dinner with a focus on experience and wellbeing

Dwell points Integrate cultural programming into the dwell points for retail and leisure footfall and enhancing the reputation of the area

Community mindset

Sharing knowledge Share business insights, experiences and learnings via local networks

Ethics Encourage ethical business practices that can earn custom as well as benefit the environment and society. Eg. using cargo bikes for local deliveries or working with the Sustainable Restaurant Association

Create a focused campaign around the working population as a community; understanding their emotional mindset, values and triggers to purchase / experience.

Resulting in a community of vocal ambassadors for London Bridge

Art of travel Consider ways that art installations can assist in wayfinding

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Changing Behaviours

04 The area is blessed with high footfall, however vast numbers of people are transient and are not necessarily seeking out the retail and leisure offer that they walk past daily.

Simplifying

Click & Collect

Promotion audit

Simplifying messaging and promotions to resonate with the mindset of the time poor audience

Investigate click and collect solutions in London Bridge

Timing

Create itineraries specifically targeting the emotional mindset of the consumer by reason for visit and day part

Audit current promotions and suggest a framework based on maximising quiet periods, new products, and diversification so to not cannibalise sales

Consider opening hours and timings of events to coincide with periods most conducive to shopping and entertainment

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Itineraries

Marketing

05 Above and beyond the current marketing activity of Team London Bridge and other stakeholders, we will develop new activity to respond this Strategy and Action Plan.

Food trails There is an appetite from members to coordinate on themed experiences and itineraries based around seasonality and cuisine and create food trails

Corporate dining guide Package up the area’s offering across breakfast, lunch, dinner, post-work drinks and outings into a convenient guide for distribution amongst major employers in the area and concierge

Deal Card

Supper clubs

Conduct a review of major employers in the area and their uptake of the Deal Card to identify ‘quick win’ opportunities to increase sign-ups

Explore creating a social club in London Bridge targeting workers, residents and visitors

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How you can be involved Team London Bridge is keen to identify opportunities to collaborate with stakeholders and businesses across the area and ensure the Retail and Leisure Action Plan is put into practice immediately.

The London Bridge Retail and Leisure Strategy report is available to download at www.teamlondonbridge.co.uk/retail.

If you would like to discuss how you can get involved, or have any questions, please call Team London Bridge on 0207 407 4701 or email info@teamlondonbridge.co.uk

@teamlondonbdg/ @teamlondonbridge

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#shoplondonbridge @teamlondonbdg @teamlondonbridge Team London Bridge, 1 Melior Place, London, SE1 3SZ teamlondonbridge.co.uk / info@teamlondonbridge.co.uk