0:00:04 > 0:00:09For the last 60 years, British retailers have led the world
0:00:09 > 0:00:12and changed the way we live.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16From family-run empires to supermarket giants
0:00:16 > 0:00:21and from fashion boutiques to fashion moguls,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24retailing is something we've been good at.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30In this episode, we tell the story of the most tumultuous change
0:00:30 > 0:00:33in the history of the British high street.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Triggered by the financial crash...
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It was very dramatic. The average size of a weekly shopping basket
0:00:40 > 0:00:43shrunk by about 5%.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45..and the rise of online shopping.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47You have to understand what e-commerce means,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49you have to understand what m-commerce means,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51you have to understand what s-commerce means
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and you put all those things into place
0:00:54 > 0:00:56and you can make money.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00These earthquakes are remaking the landscape of the high street.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04You just couldn't believe that actually was going to be
0:01:04 > 0:01:07the last day you were going to open your store.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09And changing the way we shop.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11That is an absolute revolution and we have to rethink
0:01:11 > 0:01:12so much of how we do.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18This is the story of a revolution that is changing retailing
0:01:18 > 0:01:22in ways that were unimaginable only ten years ago.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24But how will it all end?
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Is it farewell to our love affair with shopping,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31or is it the start of something new and huge?
0:01:54 > 0:01:561984. Gateshead.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59RINGING
0:02:04 > 0:02:06A 72-year-old grandmother sat in her armchair,
0:02:06 > 0:02:11picked up her remote control and started a retail revolution.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20Mrs Jane Snowball was part of a local council initiative
0:02:20 > 0:02:22to help the elderly and infirm.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28She had been given a ground-breaking bit of computer technology
0:02:28 > 0:02:30to order groceries from her local Tesco.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34It was called Videotex.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Mrs Snowball never saw a computer.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40Never.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Mrs Snowball saw a television.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Her connection to the television
0:02:46 > 0:02:52was a TV remote with an additional button which said "phone".
0:02:52 > 0:02:58What effectively we did was to take a domestic television,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00in a home
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and turn it into a computer terminal
0:03:11 > 0:03:16It took just 15 minutes to teach this trailblazing silver surfer
0:03:16 > 0:03:17how to order online.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24You know, 1984 and you're doing online shopping.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28It was amazing and she loved it, absolutely loved it.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30- INTERVIEWER:- What do you think of it? - I think it's wonderful.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Mrs Snowball ordered eggs, margarine and cornflakes.
0:03:38 > 0:03:39Reassuringly British.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Five years before the world wide web was invented,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47her order was sent down the phone line
0:03:47 > 0:03:51to her local branch of Tesco who picked the items off the shelf
0:03:51 > 0:03:52ready for delivery.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56It changed the world of shopping.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59What I'd done was to make shopping functional.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02You know, I'd stripped out all the theatre.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Made it functional, any time, any place, anywhere.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Virtual merchandise.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Few predicted all those years ago that this quaint experiment
0:04:13 > 0:04:17would anticipate a complete transformation of shopping
0:04:17 > 0:04:21which would change the face of our high streets.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25From a transaction of just a few quid
0:04:25 > 0:04:29to a global trillion-dollar industry, this was history.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33But back then, when the future founders of Google
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and Facebook were just kids or newborn babies,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42how could any retailer know that the internet would change everything?
0:04:45 > 0:04:49It would be another ten years before retailers began to see
0:04:49 > 0:04:52the potential of online shopping.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55In the mid to late '90s I'd been to
0:04:55 > 0:04:58an exhibition about the future of the store.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02And they had a little display of a, you know, a kitchen
0:05:02 > 0:05:03in an ordinary home
0:05:03 > 0:05:05and there was a computer in the kitchen.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Let's see what ideas I could have tonight.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Well, it's not a romantic dinner with my fiancee.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Neither is it a cool party with my friends.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16I just want something quick and easy.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18And the curator of the exhibition said,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21"Well, one day people will be able to order their groceries
0:05:21 > 0:05:23"from home in the kitchen."
0:05:23 > 0:05:25The lasagne looks particularly appetising.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27So we can see the ingredients.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28I'll add that to my shopping list.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33All the retailers there thought that was hilarious
0:05:33 > 0:05:36and proceeded to list all the reasons why that could never happen.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41You know the retailers weren't really sure what to do.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47It was the spirit of the age. "You want to buy things digitally,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50"when there's a perfectly good supermarket down the road?
0:05:50 > 0:05:51"You must be crazy."
0:05:53 > 0:05:56It struck me that they'd made a very good point.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59If it were possible, customers would love it.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01So what the industry had to do was to work out
0:06:01 > 0:06:06how you could possibly deliver groceries,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09fresh foods to an individual household
0:06:09 > 0:06:10at a price that anyone could afford.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14And so within six months Tesco had set up that service.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Welcome to Tesco Direct, Lorraine speaking. Can I take your order?
0:06:22 > 0:06:27Tesco was among the very first to go online in 1997.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Sainsbury's followed soon after with Orderline in '98,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36an extension of its Wine Direct service.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Lovely, very nice.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47A year later, in 1999, Next introduced its internet service.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52It had grown out of its Next Directory mail order catalogue,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54a big hit in the late '80s.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04But it was an American retailer which more than any other
0:07:04 > 0:07:06changed the way we spend our money
0:07:06 > 0:07:08and revolutionised our shopping habits.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14It arrived in Great Britain in 1998
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and its name was Amazon.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26This is one of Amazon's eight vast fulfilment centres across Britain.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Up to 2 million items are sent out every day from centres like this.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36It's the size of seven football pitches.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39There are 89 centres like it around the world.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47All so different from the early days in the creator's garage in Seattle,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49the very first fulfilment centre.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Amazon was invention of Jeff Preston Bezos.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59In 1994, he was working as a computer programmer on Wall Street,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01when his boss asked him to look into
0:08:01 > 0:08:03this new-fangled thing called the "internet",
0:08:03 > 0:08:06which was causing a bit of a buzz.
0:08:06 > 0:08:14This would be a life-changing moment for Bezos and for many of us.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18The wake-up call that led to starting amazon.com was finding
0:08:18 > 0:08:23that web usage in the spring of 1994
0:08:23 > 0:08:27was growing at 2,300% a year.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30And things just do not grow that fast.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Outside of, I guess, usually Petri dishes or something.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38It's a very, very unusual growth rate and so the question was,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40"What kind of business plan would make sense
0:08:40 > 0:08:42"in the context of that growth?"
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Bezos recognised that the internet would become a giant place
0:08:51 > 0:08:53where people would gather,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55which meant there was an opportunity to sell them stuff.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01His challenge was to work out what things to flog them.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Bezos started with a list of 20 products,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08which he whittled down to five.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Computers, software, videos, CDs and books.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Ultimately he opted for books,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20largely because, there were millions of different titles
0:09:20 > 0:09:25many more than any traditional shop could stock, but an online retailer,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29well, it could offer pretty much every title under the sun.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33You just type www.amazon.com.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35That takes you to our website.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Bezos named the company Amazon because it began with an A
0:09:39 > 0:09:42and would be high in any alphabetical listings.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46He also chose the name because, as it is the world's largest river,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49it reflected his ambitions for the company.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Launched in 1995, the early days were a bit Heath Robinson.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59They rigged up a bell to the computer that would ring
0:09:59 > 0:10:01every time that someone placed an order and, of course,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03in those first few days and weeks,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05all of the orders were from friends and family.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07Of course, every time the bell rang,
0:10:07 > 0:10:08people would run over to the monitor and say,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10"OK, what did they buy?
0:10:10 > 0:10:11"Who bought it? "Oh, it was just your mom. OK."
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Then one day the bell rang and they went to the computer
0:10:14 > 0:10:16and said "Wait, that's not my mom. Is that someone's sister?
0:10:16 > 0:10:18"Is that your aunt?
0:10:18 > 0:10:20"No, we actually have our first real customer."
0:10:24 > 0:10:28The first book bought by that first real customer was called
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models
0:10:31 > 0:10:34of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Bezos himself packed up the first orders,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42helped by a small team, all kneeling on the ground.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50And I had this brainstorm and as I said to the person next to me,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53"This packing is killing me!
0:10:53 > 0:10:57"My back hurts, this is killing my knees on this hard cement floor"
0:10:57 > 0:11:00and this person said, "Yeah, I know what you mean."
0:11:00 > 0:11:02And I said, "You know what we need?"
0:11:02 > 0:11:06This is my brilliant insight, "We need knee pads!"
0:11:06 > 0:11:07LAUGHTER
0:11:07 > 0:11:09I was very serious,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and this person looked at me
0:11:12 > 0:11:15like I was the stupidest person they'd ever seen, like,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18"I'm working for this person? This is great."
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And said, "What we need is packing tables."
0:11:22 > 0:11:25LAUGHTER
0:11:27 > 0:11:30After Amazon was launched in Britain in 1998
0:11:30 > 0:11:34it soon became Britain's most popular retail website.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38The first time I ordered something from Amazon,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40I knew that this was a game changer.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43You can press click on a mouse and I was amazed
0:11:43 > 0:11:46when it arrived in the post two days later,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49for free delivery at half the price I'd seen on the high street.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Amazon advertised that they could deliver almost anywhere fast.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57Over a million customers, a warehouse the size of Edinburgh,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02delivering almost every CD, video and book in the country like that
0:12:02 > 0:12:03is no easy task.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07In this room, it's full of my stuff
0:12:07 > 0:12:09that I order from Amazon.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Um, there's a Kindle down there, there's a phone there,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16there's a laptop there, um, pretty much all the books,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18a couple of the picture frames...
0:12:20 > 0:12:23..the CDs over here. Yeah, pretty much...
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Pretty much everything in here
0:12:27 > 0:12:30originated in an Amazon distribution centre.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Amazon soon expanded from selling books and music
0:12:40 > 0:12:42to pretty much everything.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46One of the things I've learned in Amazon is to never say never.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48I've heard Jeff tell the story of how in the early days he was asked,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50"Is there anything you won't sell?"
0:12:50 > 0:12:52He said, "We will never sell brooms."
0:12:52 > 0:12:54The problem with a broom is it's really long.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56They are pretty inexpensive, very expensive to ship.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Well, I was in one of our warehouses just a few weeks ago
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and, sure enough, we're selling a lot of brooms.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Jeff Bezos may have been a new virtual kind of shopkeeper
0:13:08 > 0:13:12but he had one big thing in common with all the retailing greats,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16which is that he obsessed about what his customers wanted.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18An elderly lady e-mailed him
0:13:18 > 0:13:23and said she loved the service but she couldn't get into the packaging.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25It was too hard, so her nephew had to come round
0:13:25 > 0:13:27and open it up for her.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Bezos took this very much to heart and had all the packages
0:13:30 > 0:13:34redesigned so that anyone could simply tear them open.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39Great packaging.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42And there is my Searching for Sugar Man
0:13:42 > 0:13:44motion picture soundtrack.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51And that is my Afterlife DVD.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54This is the embarrassing one.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01And it is the Garbage Pail Kids movie and an '80s retro revival,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03The Goonies, Police Academy and Gremlins.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05And it isn't for me. Danielle!
0:14:13 > 0:14:17But probably the biggest reason for Amazon's huge popularity
0:14:17 > 0:14:20has been down to its cheap prices.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22It can discount heavily, because its costs
0:14:22 > 0:14:26are so much lower than traditional retailers with their shops,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30vast numbers of employees, high rents and business rates.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Amazon has also saved a huge amount of money
0:14:33 > 0:14:36due to its controversial tax arrangements.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37Like many multinationals,
0:14:37 > 0:14:42Amazon exploits international rules to slash its tax bill.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Amazon generated well over £4 billion pounds of sales
0:14:47 > 0:14:49in Britain last year, but it paid
0:14:49 > 0:14:52only a tiny amount of corporation tax.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Just over £2 million.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Now, that's because as a multinational it can use
0:14:57 > 0:15:03clever devices to reduce the profit it declares in Britain.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06It's all perfectly legal, but some would say it gives Amazon
0:15:06 > 0:15:11an unfair cost advantage over bookshops like this one
0:15:11 > 0:15:12and other high street retailers
0:15:12 > 0:15:16which don't have the ability to shift their profits
0:15:16 > 0:15:21to places like Luxemburg overseas where tax rates are much lower.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Your cooperation tax payments have been small.
0:15:25 > 0:15:26What do you say to that criticism?
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Well, I think what we say to that is that in the UK, as everywhere
0:15:29 > 0:15:33in the world, we pay all of the taxes that we're required to by law.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35I think we're making a really significant contribution
0:15:35 > 0:15:36to the British economy.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39We've invested over £1 billion in the UK to date.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41We obviously collect an enormous amount of VAT
0:15:41 > 0:15:44on behalf of the government, as would any retailer.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46That's the system we operate within
0:15:46 > 0:15:48and we follow the rules of that system.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50If the government decides that there is a different system
0:15:50 > 0:15:52to be put in place, we'll follow those rules.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58High street retailers complain that when it comes to tax and rates,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00the playing field isn't level.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05That the online giants have an unfair advantage.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07It's not about internet versus bricks and mortar,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09it's about international versus domestic.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13It's about where you choose to pay corporation tax quite legally.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Our corporation tax in the UK is on a journey to 20%.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20That is an internationally competitive rate
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and I don't believe that any corporation can argue
0:16:23 > 0:16:26that it's not appropriate that they pay that tax.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30And our view is that that is a consumer issue.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Consumers should stand up and say,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36"I won't do business with businesses who don't contribute to my society."
0:16:36 > 0:16:38DIAL-UP TONE
0:16:48 > 0:16:51In Britain, we stampeded into digital shopping
0:16:51 > 0:16:53faster than pretty much any nation.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59We now make up nearly 10% of the world's online spending,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03splurging more than £2,000 per person every year.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06That's the highest in the world.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Inevitably, this has had a dramatic effect on our high street.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17First hit was music and film sales,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21so much so, that over 70% of all music and films
0:17:21 > 0:17:22are now bought online.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Everyone remembers buying entertainment,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32especially in Woolworths and as soon as Amazon started to pick up
0:17:32 > 0:17:34and became very big,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38the department of entertainment started
0:17:38 > 0:17:39to drop off straight away.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45The high street has just fallen behind
0:17:45 > 0:17:47in terms of convenience and pricing
0:17:47 > 0:17:51and service and all the other things that consumers today demand.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54If someone can buy something one place for £10
0:17:54 > 0:17:55and somewhere else for £20,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58most people are not going to pay £20 for it.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I like the fact that you can sit with a glass of wine
0:18:04 > 0:18:06in front of your computer.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08It's just a pleasant way of shopping, isn't it?
0:18:08 > 0:18:11You can sit on your sofa, in front of the television,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13just browsing, really.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22Around 10% of all retail sales in Britain are done over the internet.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27That's expected to rise to more than 25% over the next decade.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Rarely in its long history has the high street
0:18:32 > 0:18:34faced such a grave threat.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38The challenges are more serious even than the arrival of supermarkets
0:18:38 > 0:18:41and out-of-town shopping centres.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44And five years ago, the high street
0:18:44 > 0:18:45along with the rest of the economy
0:18:45 > 0:18:48was shaken by the mother of all earthquakes.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00The collapse of our banks in 2007 and 2008
0:19:00 > 0:19:02and the savage recession that followed
0:19:02 > 0:19:04was devastating for retailers.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Many of them were reliant on bank finance for survival.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11The credit crunch also hurt consumers,
0:19:11 > 0:19:16who had taken on huge debts to finance their long shopping spree.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22NEWS: One of Britain's most famous retail names
0:19:22 > 0:19:24has gone into administration tonight.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26It was the end for 200 Woolworths stores.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31'100 years of pick and mix ends as Woolies goes bust.'
0:19:31 > 0:19:34The first big casualty was a store that epitomised
0:19:34 > 0:19:37the British high street.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Woolworths had gone through two world wars,
0:19:39 > 0:19:40gone through a depression.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43You just thought it wasn't going to happen.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45It would be saved in some shape or form,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48because it was such a big name.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53It was known as the favourite on the high street.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Woolworths first opened in Britain in 1909.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03It arrived from America
0:20:03 > 0:20:06and made its impact selling most things under the sun,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08from stationery to dish cloths,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11all for a threepenny or sixpenny bit.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17This pioneering incarnation of today's pound shop fast became
0:20:17 > 0:20:21oh so very British, with a presence on every high street.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25And it won a special place in our hearts.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31I just remember Woolworths being the one shop everybody knew.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Your grandparents went there, your parents went there,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35there was something for everyone.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37# Everybody needs Woolworths
0:20:37 > 0:20:40# This super switch-off kettle is what switches on Samantha
0:20:40 > 0:20:43# Brian's Binatone is great for his cassettes... #
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Buying records is what I really remember.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Going and buying a seven inch record.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52I think I got my first record from Woolworths, actually, so it's...
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Yeah, it's happy memories, really, cos you always went to Woolworths
0:20:55 > 0:20:57on a Saturday with your pocket money.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59# Everybody needs a Woolworths store... #
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Something for everyone, as their ads were keen to point out.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08But there was one aisle in particular towards which
0:21:08 > 0:21:10everyone was lured, whatever your age.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Pick 'n' mix - the excitement in kids' faces
0:21:14 > 0:21:17when they were going round choosing what they wanted.
0:21:17 > 0:21:18- # Lick your lips. - Pick 'n' mix!
0:21:18 > 0:21:21It even had its own ad.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24It was that treat. You got to choose which sweets you wanted,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26you got to choose your favourites.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30With a pick 'n' mix bag you got to fill it up and, you know,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32however much you put in it was always too much.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35# There's no pick 'n' mix like Woolworths' new pick 'n' mix... #
0:21:36 > 0:21:41Cherry lips, cola cubes, strawberry bonbons, yum-yum.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Brings back the fondest memories of Woolies' pick 'n' mix.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48If only there had been such affection for the eclectic mix
0:21:48 > 0:21:51of other stuff that it sold.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Woolworths had for years felt like a business
0:21:53 > 0:21:58out of its time, till in the crunch of 2008 it could no longer
0:21:58 > 0:22:00get its stock on credit.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03That was the final straw and the banks pulled the plug.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07NEWS: The last remaining Woolworths stores
0:22:07 > 0:22:08have been closing their doors
0:22:08 > 0:22:10exactly 100 years since the company opened...
0:22:10 > 0:22:13It was just like a kick in the guts.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16You just couldn't believe that that actually was
0:22:16 > 0:22:18going to be the last day
0:22:18 > 0:22:20you were going to open your store.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23For myself, 18 years after I'd started
0:22:23 > 0:22:27and for all my staff who, that was all they knew.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32An absolute disaster. Woolworths was an institution.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34They've been here for 50 years.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36We all grew up with Woolies.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38In my day they used to have a deli counter.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40I think they sold ham and luncheon meat and liver sausage
0:22:40 > 0:22:42and fantastic stuff like that.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Once it's gone... It's a bit like taking the village school
0:22:45 > 0:22:46out of the village.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54The customers towards the end became bargain hunters.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57They wanted as much as they could for as little as possible
0:22:57 > 0:22:59and you can understand that from their point of view,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01but for us that was devastating.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09I remember at the end of the day just going up to the doors in tears.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13I remember turning round and just seeing everybody in tears.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Woolies wasn't the only casualty.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22During the boom years, many retailers assumed
0:23:22 > 0:23:24the good times would go on forever
0:23:24 > 0:23:26and they expanded recklessly.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31And now they were crippled by unaffordable rents on long leases,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33high business rates and massive debts
0:23:33 > 0:23:36at a time when sales were plunging.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39When the banks ran out of money to lend,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43huge numbers of our favourite stores were no longer viable
0:23:43 > 0:23:45and many went bust.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Jessops,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Habitat,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Blockbuster,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Clinton Cards,
0:23:56 > 0:23:57HMV,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59MFI,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01and Comet,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04all of them collapsed into administration.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07What started with Woolies spread like a virus
0:24:07 > 0:24:08through our high streets
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and our chain stores were particularly badly hurt.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16Last year they closed almost 7,500 outlets.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20That's twenty shops gone from our town centres
0:24:20 > 0:24:22and high streets every single day.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31The killer pressures from online and the banking crash
0:24:31 > 0:24:35made many of our high streets look like the aftermath of an apocalypse,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38with their boarded-up windows and deserted interiors.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42Shoppers fled them.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50When it comes to actual foot flow coming through our shops,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54I mean some days we take less than £100.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Some days... One day we took £35.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02I mean, you know, we've got four members of staff, plus drivers.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07How other people can possibly survive is beyond me.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Lots of the good shops have closed down now.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15We had a nice HMV, that's gone.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Now really there's just charity shops on the high street
0:25:17 > 0:25:18and coffee shops.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23For those businesses that have just survived,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27many have only enough money to stagger on like the living dead.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31In economic terms, they are barely alive...
0:25:34 > 0:25:36..which is why some call them zombies,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40a curse on our economy, and perhaps they should be closed down.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45Could store closures actually be a good thing?
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Now, that may sound heartless, but the evidence of past recessions
0:25:50 > 0:25:53is that economic renewal is impossible
0:25:53 > 0:25:56until unviable businesses, so-called zombies,
0:25:56 > 0:25:58are put out of their misery.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02The point is that bank loans provided to zombie firms
0:26:02 > 0:26:06are bank loans that are frozen and unproductive.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11Far better, perhaps, for the zombies to die so that the banks can support
0:26:11 > 0:26:16younger, vital retailers capable of growing and hiring.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22But just as many of our shops are heavily in debt,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24so too are millions of us.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28The boom and bust left us struggling
0:26:28 > 0:26:31with record levels of household debt.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36And we've become 7% poorer since 2010,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40as our pay has failed to keep up with the rising cost of living.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45When the recession hit, obviously, my salary went down a little bit.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47My husband's salary went down a bit.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50I had been shopping at Tesco every week
0:26:50 > 0:26:53and by the end of the month I'm thinking, "Crumbs! My money's gone."
0:26:56 > 0:26:59It was really 2009/10 before consumer behaviour
0:26:59 > 0:27:01started to respond to the change that was happening...
0:27:01 > 0:27:04And that's where you saw this change in people's spending habits?
0:27:04 > 0:27:07It was and it was very dramatic. I mean, it was...
0:27:07 > 0:27:10I say overnight, but within a quarter or two.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13And in supermarket retailing terms
0:27:13 > 0:27:15a change in a quarter or two is overnight.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18It's the kind of change if it took place over five years,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20you'd say was a major trend
0:27:20 > 0:27:22and it happened within two quarters.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24The average size of a weekly shopping basket
0:27:24 > 0:27:26shrunk by about 5%.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36With less spare cash in our pockets, the shopping bonanza of the '90s
0:27:36 > 0:27:41and early millennium feels like a far away dream.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Today's high street seems to resemble
0:27:43 > 0:27:47an even earlier, much more austere age.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53There are opportunities for retailers in hard times.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58Some stores have been doing pretty well out of Britain's lack of cash.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Stores which hark back to a by-gone age,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05have been doing very nicely, thank you very much.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11100 years ago, penny bazaars were the big thing.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16Shops like Marks & Spencer, in which everything cost a penny.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Today, no high street is complete
0:28:19 > 0:28:23without their 21st century equivalent - the pound shop.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27But there ARE businesses returning to the high street
0:28:27 > 0:28:31which hail from an even more distant past.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36Writing in 1835, Charles Dickens, described a particular
0:28:36 > 0:28:41Victorian institution as low, dirty-looking, dusty.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46He was describing pawnbrokers, and Dickens might not have approved,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50but since the banking crash, pawnbrokers have been booming.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55But these days, they look nothing like Dickensian hovels.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58This one looks more like a bank.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09Fish Brothers was established in 1830 by Charles Fish,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13a former Bank of England clerk who used his pension of £400 a year
0:29:13 > 0:29:15to help set his sons up
0:29:15 > 0:29:18with jewellery and pawnbroking shops in London.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22As a jeweller for when we're feeling flush
0:29:22 > 0:29:24and a pawnbroker for when we're on our uppers,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Fish Brothers is a barometer for the state of the economy.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32When I started in January '58,
0:29:32 > 0:29:35retailing was getting stronger and stronger.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Pawnbroking was just drifting along. It wasn't growing.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43It wasn't getting particularly any smaller, it was just there
0:29:43 > 0:29:45and we actually didn't see much of a future for it.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52In the '50s, pawnbroking tended to be a small, shabby business
0:29:52 > 0:29:55hidden down a backstreet, or at the back of a shop.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00Now, it's a booming industry,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04expanding at its fastest rate for more than a century.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06You can't miss it on the high street.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11Last year, four new stores opened every week, all over Britain.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17In 2006, there were 600 pawnbrokers. Today there are more than 2,000.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24It's improved not by the numbers of people that we serve,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26but by the amount of money that they want to borrow,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28because we're actually getting different people
0:30:28 > 0:30:32coming in to use pawn brokers,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34mostly because the banks
0:30:34 > 0:30:38are failing lamentably to do the job that they always did in the past.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42So we actually have business people coming in to take out
0:30:42 > 0:30:46short-term loans to help them in their businesses.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50We even have some people who come in to take out loans
0:30:50 > 0:30:53for deposits on houses and the like,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56so how pawnbroking is being used has changed.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03With their jewellery arm already online,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Fish Brothers is thinking of doing pawnbroking on the net
0:31:06 > 0:31:09to win a new class of customer.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Online pawnbroking is aimed principally at the middle classes.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Lots of people with private school education
0:31:18 > 0:31:19and all those bits and pieces
0:31:19 > 0:31:23which they're probably struggling like mad to fund,
0:31:23 > 0:31:25er, and...
0:31:25 > 0:31:29online pawnbroking would fit their bill perfectly,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32because they don't actually want to come into a pawnbroking shop.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Pawnbrokers, with their interest rates of over 80% a year,
0:31:40 > 0:31:45aren't the only businesses offering easy, if expensive cash.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Think of pay-day loan companies and cash converters.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Even betting shops for those who'd prefer to gamble to get more money.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04And back from the past is another store combining pricey credit
0:32:04 > 0:32:07with the promise of a better life.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11One of the striking things about the success of this business
0:32:11 > 0:32:14is that it's based in part on hire purchase,
0:32:14 > 0:32:18which is a way of buying stuff in instalments
0:32:18 > 0:32:22that was hugely popular after the end of the Second World War,
0:32:22 > 0:32:24but fell out of fashion in the 1970s and '80s
0:32:24 > 0:32:29as credit cards became more and more popular.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Now, hire purchase is enjoying something of a revival,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36due to the big squeeze on our pockets.
0:32:36 > 0:32:43It's a case of satisfying "champagne appetites for ginger beer pockets"
0:32:43 > 0:32:44as they used to say.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Welcome to BrightHouse.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55BrightHouse's glittering temples of consumption sell everything
0:32:55 > 0:32:59from smartphones, to tablet computers and 3D TVs.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Along with something to watch them from.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08# Don't you pay any more, Mrs Moore... #
0:33:08 > 0:33:10This is nearly 20 years
0:33:10 > 0:33:14since HP seemed extinct with the disappearance of Rumbelows.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18The shop's gone, but who can forget that ad?
0:33:18 > 0:33:24BrightHouse's reinvented HP operation is doing pretty well.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Our customers are mainly female
0:33:28 > 0:33:30aged between 26 and 45.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34They would tend to be in the D and E socioeconomic spectrum.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39The percentage of their spend on food and clothing would be pretty high
0:33:39 > 0:33:42and therefore they have to be very prudent with their affairs
0:33:42 > 0:33:47and what the BrightHouse deal does is, it allows them to buy
0:33:47 > 0:33:50high quality furniture and electronics
0:33:50 > 0:33:53and spread the cost over a period of time.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55DOORBELL RINGS Door's open, Jules!
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Hurry up, then, Mand. Trisha's about to start.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59All right! Keep your hair on!
0:33:59 > 0:34:02BrightHouse tries to reach out to its customers.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05..the brighter way to shop with BrightHouse...
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Here it is sponsoring the Trisha Goddard show.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10I want you out of my life! I've found a new love.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15It's important that they can realise their dreams.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18My customers generally won't go on foreign holidays
0:34:18 > 0:34:20or into fancy restaurants.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24However, they tend to be very proud of their homes
0:34:24 > 0:34:28and accordingly, particularly in their front room,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30they want to have a reasonable carpet or rug,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34they want to have a sofa that they can A, enjoy and put their feet up,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37literally, shall we say, and at the same time
0:34:37 > 0:34:40it says something about them as a human being.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43- You want a brew?- Yeah, but I'll make it. You put your feet up.
0:34:43 > 0:34:48BrightHouse might offer the dream, but that dream is not cheap.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50Interest rates start at nearly 30%
0:34:50 > 0:34:52and along with insurance and service contracts,
0:34:52 > 0:34:56customers can end up paying more than double the listed price.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59When you add in your APR and your insurance
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and all the rest of it, the final purchase price
0:35:02 > 0:35:05for some of your products does look quite high.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10The market in which we are offering these loans
0:35:10 > 0:35:16is one where the customer would find it difficult to access
0:35:16 > 0:35:20loans from normal mainstream sources.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25So the APR is not particularly an issue with our customers.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30What our customers are interested in is that they can plan their budgets
0:35:30 > 0:35:32in such a fashion that they can plan
0:35:32 > 0:35:34their weekly or fortnightly outgoings
0:35:34 > 0:35:37and be confident in how much they're paying.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40Hire purchase shops,
0:35:40 > 0:35:44pawnbrokers and the like are growing as British wallets shrink.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47And there's another part of the traditional British high street
0:35:47 > 0:35:50which is enjoying something of a renaissance.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00The convenience store, like the one immortalised in Open All Hours,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03has been with us since Victorian times.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Now it has a new incarnation,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08with a lot more financial muscle behind it.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12Granville, fe-fe-fetch a cloth.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15The swallows are leaving, Granville.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18And they're le-leaving it all over our window. Get it off.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Since we've all got to eat, you might have thought
0:36:23 > 0:36:27that the big supermarket groups would have emerged unscathed
0:36:27 > 0:36:29from our economic malaise.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32But they too have been forced to adapt.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41As we've scaled back our once-a-week shop in giant superstores,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45the supermarket chains have adapted to our new frugality.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50We're doing a smaller weekly grocery shop and we're topping up,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52as and when we need it.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55As this increasing trend of customers shopping
0:36:55 > 0:36:58more frequently and more locally has come back.
0:36:58 > 0:36:59If you like, we've started shopping
0:36:59 > 0:37:02the way that our parents and grandparents did.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05It's clear that there's an opportunity to serve
0:37:05 > 0:37:07that customer who needs that top-up shop.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12It plays into a trend that accelerated after 2008,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15which was, customers wanted to shop little and often
0:37:15 > 0:37:20so that they didn't have to drive their motorcars, rising fuel prices,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23and they could avoid food waste.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26From price being important to value being important.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Gone is the golden age for the vast superstores
0:37:35 > 0:37:37when we jumped into our cars at the weekend,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39headed to an out-of-town supermarket
0:37:39 > 0:37:41and spent lavishly on the weekly shop.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48What was known as the "space race" to open more and more
0:37:48 > 0:37:53and larger and larger supermarkets now seems to be over.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57In the future, just building more and more new stores would not be
0:37:57 > 0:38:00the right thing And we saw an opportunity to go back
0:38:00 > 0:38:05into these forgotten high streets, take over clothes stores,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08take over pubs that had closed and were closing rapidly
0:38:08 > 0:38:09and put in a store.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12There's no shock for me in seeing convenience stores,
0:38:12 > 0:38:13food convenience stores
0:38:13 > 0:38:16and the big supermarkets opening hundreds of them.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19Because you've got to say, in the next decade,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22how many people want to run round a supermarket with a trolley?
0:38:22 > 0:38:25They're going to be doing their big shop online,
0:38:25 > 0:38:29and then they're going to be topping up in local convenience stores.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31NEWSREEL: Shopping is a wonderful excuse
0:38:31 > 0:38:33for exchanging the latest village news.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Yes, shopping's a wonderful excuse...
0:38:38 > 0:38:41The local convenience store is seen as the future
0:38:41 > 0:38:43by many of the major chains.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49The convenience market is expected to grow from £35 billion this year
0:38:49 > 0:38:52to £46 billion by 2018.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59This long, long period of economic stagnation has made us
0:38:59 > 0:39:02much more wary of shopping till we drop.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Long gone are the days of rampant, conspicuous consumption.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Today we've entered an age perhaps of more considered, more careful,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12more thoughtful consumption.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15It's generally become referred to as savvy shopping.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18I can certainly remember walking the high street with my mum.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22She'd walk the entire high street, up and down, not buy a thing.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26She'd check everything first before she then did her weekly shop.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29I think that kind of mindset has come back to consumers today.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Cash-strapped consumers have helped to re-create a high street
0:39:38 > 0:39:42with one foot in the past, of moneylenders and corner shops.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47But if the high street is to stand a chance of surviving,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50it needs to renew itself more fundamentally,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53by working with the power of the internet,
0:39:53 > 0:39:57rather than just seeing it as a lethal threat.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00You have to be multi-channel, omnichannel.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02That you have to understand what e-commerce means.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04You have to understand what m-commerce means you
0:40:04 > 0:40:06have to understand what s-commerce means.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08You have to understand what a mobile,
0:40:08 > 0:40:09what an electronic wallet is.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12You have to understand what cardless transactions are.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16And you put all those things into place, you can make money.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22The high street needs to combine the best bits of online
0:40:22 > 0:40:25with the best bits of the in-store experience.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Some high street retailers are beginning to do just this.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32They've started to offer "Click & Collect",
0:40:32 > 0:40:35where the customer has the convenience of buying online,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38but then collects from a local store.
0:40:38 > 0:40:39That's very attractive to people.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43They buy something big, they go to the store, when they get to the store
0:40:43 > 0:40:46it's all packed ready for them, and then if they want to
0:40:46 > 0:40:49they can open the parcel and have it explained to them,
0:40:49 > 0:40:51and, hopefully, they may even buy something in the store.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53It's all integrated today.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58But high street retailers are going to have to be even more creative
0:40:58 > 0:41:00in their use of the internet.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Because there's a new type of online shopping experience
0:41:03 > 0:41:06with which the high street is going to have to keep up.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17It's called social shopping and ASOS,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21Britain's largest online fashion retailer, has pioneered it.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29Social shopping is where customers use online social network sites
0:41:29 > 0:41:31like Facebook to gather and share ideas
0:41:31 > 0:41:36about products, brands and deals before they buy.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47ASOS isn't just an online fashion retailer
0:41:47 > 0:41:50where you can browse and buy clothing.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53It's probably the way it uses social media
0:41:53 > 0:41:55that will turn out to be more significant.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Social media has been our megaphone globally
0:42:03 > 0:42:07for what ASOS is all about. When we started out, it didn't even exist.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15ASOS, originally known as As Seen On Screen,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18started in June 2000, selling a wide mix of products
0:42:18 > 0:42:21that we might have noticed in films and on television.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Nick Robertson came up with the idea after hearing
0:42:28 > 0:42:33that when the broadcaster NBC aired the hit '90s TV show Friends,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37it wasn't just hairstyles that people wanted to copy.
0:42:37 > 0:42:394,000 enquiries were made asking where
0:42:39 > 0:42:43a standard lamp could be bought.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47But it was clear to you that it was clothes that were really taking off?
0:42:47 > 0:42:50Well, that the transition point, so out of everything we were selling,
0:42:50 > 0:42:52it was quite an eclectic mix at the time,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55it was the fashion that was out-performing.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05At first, ASOS sold copies of clothing worn by celebrities,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09but it's since become a fashion giant with its own brand.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13And what has supercharged its astonishing growth
0:43:13 > 0:43:16is the power of social media.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19ASOS uses social networking sites like Facebook,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Twitter and Google Plus,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24to offer their customers helpful advice in all things fashion.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29From pointing you in the direction of a new brand
0:43:29 > 0:43:32to what to wear or how to style for an occasion.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37With Glastonbury, which is a big moment for us,
0:43:37 > 0:43:39the main thing would be giving our 20-somethings
0:43:39 > 0:43:41a bit of an inspiration guide of what to wear.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44We will put all of those key pieces into a gallery
0:43:44 > 0:43:46onto Facebook for them
0:43:46 > 0:43:49or we'll tweet about it so they're over all of the different trends
0:43:49 > 0:43:51that are there and aware that you can buy it on ASOS.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53All of that will then link through to sites
0:43:53 > 0:43:55so that they can straight away with one click
0:43:55 > 0:43:57go and purchase what they need for Glastonbury.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01Say I've written a blog post and maybe I've featured something,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03an ASOS product that I've worn,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05I might tweet a link to them
0:44:05 > 0:44:10and they'll reply and they've got multiple twitter accounts,
0:44:10 > 0:44:12one that's just dedicated to customer service.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14If you've got a problem with an order
0:44:14 > 0:44:17they'll tweet back within minutes.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20You feel like there's that one-to-one connection as well.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28With over 2.5 million Facebook followers,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32more than 2 million on Google Plus and half a million on Twitter,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35the numbers of customers ASOS can reach
0:44:35 > 0:44:38via social media is almost unlimited.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Once we realised its capability, which is a megaphone,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47and they will talk about things that are interesting and relevant to them,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50then our role within that is to keep providing them with interesting
0:44:50 > 0:44:52and relevant things to talk about.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57Social media such as Twitter and Facebook
0:44:57 > 0:45:01gives retailers the ability to find out much more than ever before
0:45:01 > 0:45:03about what their customers actually want
0:45:03 > 0:45:05and to nudge those customers
0:45:05 > 0:45:08in the direction of certain lines and styles.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12And for a company like ASOS, it makes it much cheaper
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and easier to expand across the world.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18This way of selling is exploding.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24It's enabled us to internationalise, at a rate that we just
0:45:24 > 0:45:27couldn't foresee, and if you told me that I was going to be
0:45:27 > 0:45:31the biggest online clothing retailer in Australia five years ago,
0:45:31 > 0:45:33without any significant marketing investment,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36I would probably have said, "That's not possible."
0:45:36 > 0:45:38The reality is we are the biggest
0:45:38 > 0:45:40clothing online retailer in Australia,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43having never placed a single normal advertisement down there,
0:45:43 > 0:45:46and that's purely through the benefit of social media.
0:45:48 > 0:45:53The smarter high street retailers recognise the power of social media.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59You go to China where you've got Weibo,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03there's 450 million people live online.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05And just the capability today
0:46:05 > 0:46:08of just how you can access in this new social...
0:46:08 > 0:46:12in this new world of just easy access, quick access,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16just the things that these kids are permanently...
0:46:16 > 0:46:20permanently on all these social media outlets
0:46:20 > 0:46:22is where we've got to play.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24And, you know, that's, that's the consumer.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38Can the high street harness the power of social media?
0:46:38 > 0:46:42The answer is already here, and is carried in every one of our pockets.
0:46:44 > 0:46:45Shopping on mobile phones
0:46:45 > 0:46:49and other portable devices is beginning to boom.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52And because they're always with us, it means we can shop any time,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55any place, anywhere.
0:46:56 > 0:47:00Today, 40% of British consumers have a smartphone.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03By 2016, it's going to be 90%.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07So this will be the way consumers will shop - in beautiful stores
0:47:07 > 0:47:10like this, but also online.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14So the future store is this future store. It's the smartphone.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Some of our leading high street retailers
0:47:18 > 0:47:22are looking at how to use mobile phone technology to convert
0:47:22 > 0:47:26in-store browsing into purchases.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29The fashion retailer Diesel
0:47:29 > 0:47:33is experimenting with a cutting-edge system called "Tapestry".
0:47:33 > 0:47:35That allows customers to scan products
0:47:35 > 0:47:40to find out more about them and interact with the retailer.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42I come into a Diesel store and there's a whole range
0:47:42 > 0:47:44of stuff that I like. There are specific items
0:47:44 > 0:47:47that I want to find out a little bit more information about,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50so either scanning a barcode or tapping my phone on a tag,
0:47:50 > 0:47:53it will then pull down more digital information around that product.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56So a pair of jeans it could tell me where they were made,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58if there's a catwalk show of someone wearing them,
0:47:58 > 0:48:00what a blogger might have thought about it.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03If you didn't want you to buy that item there and then
0:48:03 > 0:48:05you've added that item to your wishlist.
0:48:05 > 0:48:06You're saying to the retailer,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09"Well, I've told you that I like this thing."
0:48:09 > 0:48:11Anything new about it that you think I should know,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13send it to me via my mobile phone,
0:48:13 > 0:48:15because I've got my mobile phone on me all of the time.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17And then if at that point I decide I want to buy it
0:48:17 > 0:48:19I can just click out and go straight to the link
0:48:19 > 0:48:22on the retailer's e-com site and buy it there and then.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Many of our future stores will, in a way, become just showrooms,
0:48:28 > 0:48:32where we touch and feel products,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35then buy them online later, once we've left the store.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38I like to buy things for the cheapest price possible,
0:48:38 > 0:48:42so sometimes if you know you can try it on in a store
0:48:42 > 0:48:47and find it online on sale, with a discount code or just for less,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50I'd prefer to do that. I'm happy to do that.
0:48:52 > 0:48:57This use of mobile technology is set to have enormous ramifications
0:48:57 > 0:49:00right across the retail industry.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04We think the mobile device, be it a tablet or be it a mobile phone,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08used in-store to help you do your weekly grocery shop,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12to help you plan your recipes, to inspire you with those recipes
0:49:12 > 0:49:14and also help you manage your budget
0:49:14 > 0:49:16is going to be a big part of the future.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21It's probably five to ten years off yet, but it's coming towards us fast.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24It's a new era of retailing.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28The era of retailing where you can buy what you want
0:49:28 > 0:49:30on a phone as fast as you like.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32There's a great statistic.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Most customers will spend
0:49:35 > 0:49:4250 to 60% of the spare time that they have playing on a smartphone.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45We are watching customers adopt mobile shopping at a rate
0:49:45 > 0:49:47that even a year ago we couldn't have imagined.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49I predict that within just a few years
0:49:49 > 0:49:51more than half of all of our transactions
0:49:51 > 0:49:53will be happening on tablets and mobile phones.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55That is an absolute revolution
0:49:55 > 0:49:57and we have to rethink so much of how we do.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09So the future of shopping is inextricably tied to online
0:50:09 > 0:50:11and mobile technology.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15But where does this leave the old-fashioned British high street,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19the simple face-to-face encounter between customer and shopkeeper?
0:50:22 > 0:50:25This is one of the most celebrated books
0:50:25 > 0:50:27ever written about British retailing.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30It's called The High Street. It was published in 1938
0:50:30 > 0:50:34and it depicts a golden age of family butchers,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37of cheese mongers and clerical outfitters.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42But it's the kind of thing we only see these days in period dramas.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47What's the chance of a second act for these types of shops?
0:50:51 > 0:50:53As we have seen in this series,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55our high streets have continuously evolved.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Ever since the Second World War, people have been complaining
0:51:01 > 0:51:04that our high streets are under threat.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06First it was the large shopping centres,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08then came the out-of-town superstores.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15And latterly, the bogeymen have been economic stagnation
0:51:15 > 0:51:17and online shopping.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20For some high streets, these challenges mean a future
0:51:20 > 0:51:24with permanently fewer and very different shops.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30We can all recognise in our own high streets
0:51:30 > 0:51:34that there's a good end of town and there's a bad end of town.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37And actually keeping the bad end of town with maybe
0:51:37 > 0:51:4130, 40, 50% vacancy, perhaps only charity shops,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44isn't a good thing for the rest of the high street.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48We need to concentrate into the good bit, allow, if you like,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51the bad end of the high street to regenerate as something else,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55regenerate as homes, because we need more homes,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58regenerate as commercial property or community uses,
0:51:58 > 0:52:00but regenerate away from retail.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03They're empty cos A, nobody wants to go there,
0:52:03 > 0:52:05B, the local authority hasn't invested in them.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07There's no car parking, no street lighting,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10they're not safe places to go to, or there just isn't enough demographic,
0:52:10 > 0:52:12not enough traffic to justify it.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14And I just say don't try and resuscitate the dead.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Concentrate on the living and make the living better.
0:52:20 > 0:52:21To do this, we need to make
0:52:21 > 0:52:25doing business on the high street less onerous.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28And this means dealing with unaffordable rents
0:52:28 > 0:52:30and high business rates.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36The first thing is, rents will come down
0:52:36 > 0:52:39because landlords won't get those idiotic rents they were getting.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Market economy adjusts.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45There will be about 40 big high streets left in the country.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50It's shopping centres, the big towns will have a good high street.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52The rest of the localities, the small out-of-towns,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55the smaller towns, will have to find a better way
0:52:55 > 0:52:57of filling their high streets.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07High streets need to re-invent themselves, to give the shopper
0:53:07 > 0:53:12a special experience, something they simply can't get online.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20Few high streets can compete on price.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24But they can offer us something social, something convenient
0:53:24 > 0:53:26and something richer as an experience
0:53:26 > 0:53:30than a soulless shopping centre or the sterile internet.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Here at Boxpark, in East London, they're re-defining shopping
0:53:35 > 0:53:38by bringing back a bit of theatre and pizzazz.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45Boxpark says it's the world's first pop-up mall,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49built out of refitted shipping containers.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54It's filled with fashion shops, galleries, cafes and restaurants.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Fundamentally, people like shopping.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58And I think you've got to realise,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02as a retailer you're giving somebody an experience
0:54:02 > 0:54:05and people want to be entertained in your store.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07And they want to have a great experience
0:54:07 > 0:54:09and go, "I really enjoyed my day out shopping",
0:54:09 > 0:54:14and I personally believe you can never replicate that feeling online.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16I often describe the experience of buying online
0:54:16 > 0:54:21to watching fireworks on TV.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23You know, you just don't get the sensory experience
0:54:23 > 0:54:25of being at a real, live fireworks show.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33The clue is in those words "great destinations".
0:54:33 > 0:54:37Our high streets need to be places that are easy to get to,
0:54:37 > 0:54:42easy and cheap to park, because most people will want to travel by car.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46They need to feel safe. They need to feel well-lit.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49They need to be dry, and therefore have covered areas,
0:54:49 > 0:54:53and as well, they need to have a fantastic selection of shops,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57which, if you like, demands attention from customers.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06Some of our high streets already offer a fantastic selection
0:55:06 > 0:55:10of independently-owned boutiques and specialist retailers.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17This one, in the seaside town of Whitstable in Kent, is thriving.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25The streets are safe and clean. There's affordable parking,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28and rents and business rates are more realistic.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34But at the heart of its success are local traders who are offering
0:55:34 > 0:55:37an experience that the internet cannot match.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43We've got go back to local shops.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46You know people want to go to a fish monger, a butcher.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52I think the high street has a very good opportunity.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54Individual service will always have a place.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Boutiques, there will be more. There will be doctors
0:55:57 > 0:56:00and dentists in the high street. There'll be smaller bookshops.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02The high street will become attractive,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04there'll be antique dealers, specialty dealers.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14Take this shop, my local grocer,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18which opened in Muswell Hill back in 1897.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20It was founded by William Martyn
0:56:20 > 0:56:22and it's been in his family ever since.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28Martyn's has been around since the early days of Marks & Spencer
0:56:28 > 0:56:32and Sainsbury's, but unlike them, it still looks like it.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35We're stepping back in time.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40Martyn's is still going strong. Why?
0:56:40 > 0:56:43Well, it's because the Martyn family understand retail,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46they understand what their customers want,
0:56:46 > 0:56:47they offer something unique.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52So places like this are a timely reminder
0:56:52 > 0:56:54of how we British are a nation of shopkeepers
0:56:54 > 0:56:59and how when we get it right we excel at retail.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03The British are good at retailing.
0:57:03 > 0:57:04I know that Napoleon meant it as an insult
0:57:04 > 0:57:06but we really are a nation of shopkeepers.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12Shopkeeping is our national sport. You know, it's what we do.
0:57:12 > 0:57:13If you've got a good product, good service,
0:57:13 > 0:57:15good innovation you can still make money
0:57:15 > 0:57:19as in evidence by still some successful retailers in the UK.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23There might be parts of the world where things are a bit cheaper,
0:57:23 > 0:57:25but the balance of quality and service
0:57:25 > 0:57:28and price is unsurpassed.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31And I've been able to see retailing in most countries of the world
0:57:31 > 0:57:33and I've participated in a lot of countries.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Over the last 60 years, we fell in love with shopping,
0:57:39 > 0:57:42but we also became a little too passionate,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46a little too dependent on it for the health of the economy.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50So retailing has stagnated since the crash
0:57:50 > 0:57:54and the boom years aren't going to be back any time soon.
0:57:54 > 0:57:59But shopping and retail remains central to our prosperity.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01It is what we do and who we are.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05Our retailers are world class.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08And they'll continue to be massively important to us
0:58:08 > 0:58:13as generators of precious tax revenues and huge employers.
0:58:13 > 0:58:19The very best of them will continue to surprise us, even delight us,
0:58:19 > 0:58:24with imaginative and creative ways they find to take our money.
0:58:33 > 0:58:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd