You may have recently noticed that retailers are banding together. Shop spaces are no longer solely occupied by a single brand and spaces are becoming more multi-faceted with retailers occupying the high street with greater proximity to one another.
This phenomenon isn’t unique to large or small retailers either. One only needs to take a stroll down the nearest high street to find an Argos shopfront inside a Sainsburys in the same way that a new retailer might be co-renting a shop space with another small brand.
There are a great many reasons as to why the culture of retail collaborations is becoming more established and it isn’t necessarily all about saving money. What’s more, as time moves on, it seems as if sharing retail spaces on the high street is set to become standard practice.
Complementary Brands
Brands that occupy the same spaces are seldom doing so because they offer the same products. Instead, they are doing so because their products and services are complementary. Take, for example, the standard presence of a Post Office branch being found in a WH Smiths shop space. One brand is known for their delivery services while the other is a mainstay for stationary. Their close proximity, from a shopper’s perspective, makes sense.
This goes for smaller brands too. Jewellers are being found within clothing brand spaces, along with cafes in bookshops. This is because one product or service complements another and retailers benefit from customers associating similar brands.
Shared Designs
For brands with distinct aesthetics, collaborations have always been an exciting way to generate customer interest. Pop-up experiences between fashion brands and other retailers, such as Vans trainers and Nintendo, are continuously popular with customers who enjoy both aesthetics excited to see them come together, especially if the product or experience is of a limited number.
This potential crossover also applies to retail spaces and brands can collaborate with others more permanently by sharing a shop. Fashion brands and barber shops, for example, are a common crossover space due to their complementary services (those wanting new clothing often want a haircut too). Such businesses can elevate their own retail identity by building a mutual aesthetic, and simultaneously reducing costs by sharing retail furniture and shop shelving with one another.
Lower Risk
The cost-saving aspect is clear with a shared retail space. A greater deal of footfall is assured for all businesses within a retail space while costs of high street rental are appropriately shared. This opportunity has had a major effect on first-time retailers perhaps most of all, because risk is greatly reduced.
Traditionally, retailers looking to find their place on the high street have been faced not only with competition and cost but also finding an appropriate location that will allow them to build the customer base needed for success in the long term. Shared spaces dramatically reduce these challenges, making businesses more robust together. As a result, there is a growing diversity on the high street, with new retailers able to find their footing when working in cooperation.