Indie retailer Michael Apter’s first newsletter strikes a chord with greetings folk
Apt comments on the state of the retail industry have struck a chord with greetings folk as Paper Tiger owner Michael Apter issued his first newsletter – and he reckons the High Street has a strong pulse.
Looking over recent news stories at his two greeting card and gift stores in Edinburgh from the position of recording the company’s best-yet October, the long-time independent retailer said: “I felt compelled to write something, and wrote more than I expected – in fact, I went way over the LinkedIn character allowance, so I had to get myself a Substack account to get my thoughts in order!”
He was referencing stories such as Aldi raising its minimum wage to £11ph, which Michael said is a “huge vote of confidence in their team, their retail offer, and their physical stores”, against Made.com going bust where he believes: “They made the same mistake that many online retailers have made over the last year, which was to assume that the sales pattern during the pandemic would be their new normal.”
And Michael wrote: “The story that really caught my eye – and compelled me to start typing – was the Amazon results. They have been the online exemplar for 20 years, dominating the retail landscape and crashing through the High Street like a virtual mammoth. Now, the real world is catching up with them. Fast.”
Talking of Amazon’s industrial dispute issues both here and in the US while, amid forecasts and a lacklustre 2022 performance, its share price has plummeted by 35%, Michael’s opinion is that the Bezos behemoth has moved away from its core purpose and lost focus.
He said: “For me, this signals the beginning of the end of Amazon as a retailer. While I concede that this is a bold statement to make given their vast revenues, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that brands and consumers are deserting the platform.
“I don’t think Rocketman Bezos ever really intended to be a retailer, but the Amazon share price will have brought him back down to earth with a bump. I would suggest that in a decade or so from now they will mainly focus their hunt for profit on their distribution businesses.”
Noting that online brands such as Gymshark are moving into empty High Street units and engaging physically with customers and their communities, while bricks-and-mortar retailers like The Works, Primark, and lots of independents have built websites and made their offer more widely accessible to consumers, many thanks to Shopify’s e-commerce platform, he concluded: “In the gaps between the big players, in secondary shop sites on suburban High Streets – and on search engines and online shipping channels – there is room for independent retailers to not just maintain but also grow their presence as multi-channel retailers too.
“For a long time, it felt that Amazon would eat retail. How do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time. Perhaps retail will eventually eat Amazon after all.”
And the full article, available here with the opportunity to subscribe to Michael’s newsletters too, has caught the imagination of both greeting card retailers and publishers.
“It’s the kind of read and information that needs to be pushed out to the mainstream media and report that the High Street is far from dead,” commented Sean Austin, owner of Malvern’s Austin & Co. “Believe me, I’m fully aware of the challenges ahead and I haven’t buried my head in the sand, but I doubt the news that I’ve just recorded my best shop sales for October – up some 19% on last year – will see the light of day!”
The Art File managing director Ged Mace said: “Loved your positive observations on the status of the High Street. I agree with you and believe independent retailers are truly valued by their communities and will be supported even more so in the future. Great work!”
Having said “I would echo many of your sentiments”, David Greaves, md at Emotional Rescue, mentioned a small convenience store near Cheltenham which is not is a great location, has no unique products and isn’t cheap but, he added: “It is, however, serious well stocked and merchandised; immaculately clean; well lit; courteous, smiling people work there – the business does really, really well.”
And Parcelforce business development manager Nicki Clatworthy commented: “Great article, thank you – I started life in retail for Habitat and saw how topsy turvy the world of retail is, but also how resilient. Over the years with RMG I have seen exceptional growth in mail order and the move from 28-day delivery to overnight has been great progress!
“Now I mainly work with SMEs and concur about Shopify – they saw a great opportunity and I have lost count of how many customers I have integrated with our platform for ease of despatch. Mail order, ecommerce, etailers are here to stay but the High Street will always have a heart.”
Top: Paper Tiger’s Michael Apter has wise words on the health of the High Street
