E-tail won’t kill retail as long as we value the human touch

It’s time to start thinking about the impact every click has on the fabric of our cities, towns, and villages, writes Clodagh Finn.

It’s time to start thinking about the impact every click has on the fabric of our cities, towns, and villages, writes Clodagh Finn.

My own personal Santa’s grotto is a boutique called Bamboo in Ardfert, a village in north Kerry with a population of 800-plus people.

I beat a path to its wonderfully unlikely location whenever there is a wardrobe crisis, but now — with just hours to go before Christmas — it is the perfect place for last-minute shopping (shameless-plug alert: It’s open tomorrow from 10am to 6pm).

We were uncharacteristically ahead of ourselves this year and swept in last week. We ticked our list with impressive speed and left with two bags full of reasonably priced gifts, all wrapped up with ribbons, in less than an hour.

Online shopping has many advantages, but no amount of clicking could beat that.

So which did you opt for this year — retail or e-tail? We’d gain a fascinating insight into Irish consumer behaviour if everyone asked themselves that question as they surveyed the presents under the Christmas tree.

The smart money would probably be on the web. We’ve all read of the surge in online sales — a staggering 30% increase in 2017 — prompting fears that the death of retail is imminent.

There has been such a hike in online demand that logistics companies are struggling to deliver the goods. One online shopping delivery service was so overwhelmed, it was obliged to bring in buses to deal with the extraordinary demand.

All the same, I’d still be the one arguing that the reports of the death of retail are greatly exaggerated. For as long as we continue to value the human touch, people will seek out bricks-and-mortar shops, although not necessarily those located on the high street.

That brings me back to Bamboo and the other independent, local retailers around the country who know that consumers still want the things they will never succeed in finding online — personal service, real interaction and expertise.

Bamboo is unusual for lots of reasons, not least its location. Its owners, Sharon Lewis and Kay Revington, bought a derelict cottage on the outskirts of Ardfert in 2005 and set about renovating it, spurred on by the philosophy: If we build it, they will come.

They also did something else, which explains the boutique’s enduring popularity. They ignored the big brands, stocking instead smaller labels designed for real women, living real lives.

As Sharon Lewis says: “Women in real life want to know how they can look good while cooking the Christmas dinner.”

Real-life women also want an honest opinion. If they ask: “Does that work on me?” they want a straight answer, not plámás. And here’s the bit that you’ll never find online.

The women behind Bamboo — Sharon, Kay, and Marisa — will always give you a no-nonsense answer, but they will also go out of their way to find you something to wear that makes you look and feel fabulous. Or, at the very least, comfortable and normal.

Helping women to feel comfortable in their own skin has huge currency at a time when the big-brand stores are full of off-the-peg clothes that sometimes do little more than take you down a peg or two.

The tyranny of standard sizing has wrecked many a woman’s attempt to sparkle at the

festive party.

The reality is that none of us neatly fits into the standard box and there will always be a place for the retailers who recognise that.

Despite the rush online, there has also been a heartening and trend-bucking increase in the number of independent bookshops — a reason to be cheerful at a time when Amazon and other online booksellers reign supreme.

This week, Gwen Allman, co-founder of The Company of Books in Ranelagh, Dublin, told the Journal.ie that, since the recession, people have become more conscious of shopping locally, whether that be in a bookshop or a craft butchers.

“They appreciate the convenience, the service, and the value to the local community of having a vibrant retail presence on its main street,” she said.

Unfortunately, not enough of us think like that because, this month, we also heard of the threatened closure of another independent bookshop, The Rathgar Bookshop, so aptly described as “a warm hug of a space”.

The gem in Dublin 6 is also home to a little café, a local book club, a knitting group, and a Saturday jewellery class.

Owner Liz Meldon pinpointed last year’s so-called Black Friday shopping splurge as the beginning of a dramatic fall in sales. While people still read and still go to bookshops to seek advice, they often buy online, she said.

At the same time, e-commence has done one very positive thing. It has made us more discerning. Consumers often do price-comparison research on the web before they step over the threshold of a shop.

If that forces retailers to give us better service and better value that is a wonderful thing, but let’s consider the downside too.

It’s time to start thinking about the impact every click has on the fabric of our cities, towns, and villages. Do we want them to be filled with independent boutiques, wonderful bookshops, and local businesses, or do we want them to be taken over by discount stores and soulless warehouses to stock the packages ordered online?

If you take your business online, you are also taking it out of the local economy. On the other hand, spending in a local shop is the same as investing in your own community — its people, its infrastructure and its future.

As Sharon Lewis of Bamboo puts it: “It is not just about the product you are purchasing — it’s about who and what you want to benefit from your buying decision.”

The next time you power up the computer with a credit card in one hand, and a wish-list in the other, consider the implications of your actions.

The question for the coming year might well go something like this: Are you going to go with clicks (online shopping) or bricks (the tangible shops that are the backbone of our communities)?

For me, it will be bricks every time.