PRESSURES facing retailers are demanding more creative thinking and focus on the customer. Bigger chains are threatening to push some smaller business out of the High Street, but, according to one leading retail analyst, the small shops are unlikely to disappear completely.

Richard Hyman, chairman of Verdict Research, said that being in an island would benefit local retailers because it was a captive market.

‘Guernsey obviously has a very different kind of market – it is captive and that benefits the smaller retailers, which is good news.

‘The bad news is that being good will not get people from the mainland, but again, having a population of only 60,000, means some of the big boys won’t come here.’

He said that the smaller retailers had the advantage of having a better level of intimacy with the customer.

‘They add variety and interest and tend to understand the customer better,’ said Mr Hyman.

‘And customers are becoming much more demanding, so that servicing that demand is a critical part of the success of the industry.’

He said that the main problem for independent retailers was that being big was becoming more important, as the economies of retailing became tougher.

‘Operating costs increase, but because of greater competition, they cannot pass the cost onto the customer and have to absorb them. The bigger they are, the ability to absorb is easier, so with each passing year, the smaller retailers have to run faster.’

He said that smaller shops had to compete on grounds other than price and the best route was by focusing on the customer.

Cathy Jones, also a specialist in the industry who was in the island to talk at a conference organised by the Training Agency and which was sponsored by the Board of Industry, told retailers to keep promoting themselves.

‘The main message is to keep it simple and to go for impact.’

She tried to give ideas on how to unleash creativity and to use different people’s strengths.

Mr Hyman denied suggestions that Internet shopping was a further threat to the future of the high street. He said that shopping was mainly about women and generally they liked to go to the shops.

‘Where is the buzz of buying something on the Internet?’ he said.

‘It is an important channel, but I do not see it as a serious threat.’

The seminar was attended by more than 70 delegates.