Sir
I was very interested to read Jonathan Birchall's article 'Customised shops are bringing in the customers' (31 October).
It is indeed true that retailers in the UK have been developing local 'strands' of the host retail brand for many years. Success in the past came as a result of talented store management, and his or her feel for the local market - introducing product and service variants that would attract new customers. Intuition has now been replaced with science, and many of the leading high street names have the ability to analyse gigabytes of data. However does it really add up to much? Are we seeing the value of insight?
We still have high street and shopping malls populated with a bland consistency of the same names offering more or less the same products. Where is the imagination and step change innovation? Retailers and mall owners need to understand that customers are looking for difference - they now have the confidence to be individual without the need to have a retail badge to express their personality.
The national brands have their supply chains and their purchasing economies solved, they now need to turn their attention to genuinely 'thinking local if they are to differentiate their brands and win back the affection of the customer.
