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LONDON ROADPORTAS PILOT

/visitlondonroad visitlondonroad.co.ukWWelcome to the London Road Trader, London Road’s Portas Pilot Newsletter. Over the next few months we will be providing feedback on research conducted over the past 6 months. Don’t forget if you’re a business on London Road you can get listed on the London Road website (www.visitlondonroad.co.uk), twitter and Facebook pages. If you’ve got any feedback, news stories or special offers you’d like to share you can get in touch via the website. !London Road Insights The London Road Town Team and Portas Pilot has partnered with the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) to conduct a number of different pieces of research as part of an Annual Review. This review aims to gives us a clear picture of how the area is performing, identify areas for improvement and allows us to plan resources for the future. !Objectives The key objectives from this research is to obtain information on; !-Shopper behaviour and shopping patterns -Trading parameters and trends -Perceived strengths and weaknesses -Gain insight into customer experience -Gather measurable data from businesses, local authority

and the general public. !Approach Over the next few months we’ll be providing feedback from 4 pieces of research conducted by the London Road Portas Pilot and put forward key recommendations for improvement to the London Road Town Team, businesses and local authority. !Operator Survey gathers real time information from businesses on how the area is performing, customers and their buying trends and opinions on specific areas such as crime, services and facilities. !Store Checkers gathers data on the ‘Customer Experience’ in the London Road area. 50 businesses were mystery shopped by a team of professional store checkers. !Town Centre Health Check collected data from businesses and the general public on areas including first impressions, shopping and services, security and finally action, activities and marketing. This was done with surveys distributed to businesses, online and with the help of Costa Coffee. !Vacancy Surveys are conducted every quarter by the London Road Portas Pilot and provide a good measure of how an area is performing. !

@visitlondonroad Issue 5

Side of New England House by Charlie Rallings

Back of WHSmiths by artists Morf and Rebus

Insights SpecialTRADER

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The London Road Customer - The area has a young focus to its customer base, with over 50% of customers

under 45 years years of age. - Overall a broad cross section of ages shop in the area, focused around the key

‘working/family’ age groups. - Surveys indicate that a regular/local shopper base dominates - Whilst families remain core shoppers, the elderly and local workers are also key

shopper groups. !Customer Characteristics - Retailers consider their shoppers to comprise of a mix of workers and those who

are retired - Students are considered to make up the key consumer group - Shoppers are considered to be value seekers and on a budget - Family oriented, comfortably off and brand conscious consumers are still

considered to be important shopper groups. - Fashionites are considered less prevalent than brand conscious consumers. !Retailer Trading Parameters - 62% of retailers are trading level or up on last year despite the continuing difficult

trading conditions. - There is no product category/type of operator who is finding trading conditions

harder than any other. !Average Transaction Values (ATV) - Circa 41% of respondents said the average ATV was under £10 - Indicative of a

frequent top up shop. - However, a small group of customers are spending a significant amount of money;

circa £75 plus. This is likely to be influenced by the more affluent shoppers and specialist shops within the area.

- 28% of respondents states ATV had remained relatively consistent over the last year, with 25% saying it had increased. !

Reasons for visiting the London Road Area - Living nearby is the top reason for visiting the London Road area, followed by

working in the area. - Overall environment, access and leisure/evening facilities scored poorly along with

car parking. - London Road is providing local customers with a convenient shopping service. - More can be done to make it an easier choice. !Strengths and Weaknesses The following tables show the unprompted strengths and weaknesses of the area as stated by retailers. !-The location and good public transport links were considered to be the main

strengths - The number of independent traders was cited as a strength - Street drinking was listed by half of the respondents as the key weakness of the

area - supported by the fact that many respondents also want more of a noticeable police presence.

- This is compounded by cleaning issues - The lack of retail variety is considered to be an issue and car parking costs are

also considered a key weakness. - The area’s reputation is considered to be poor. - Retailers would like to see an increased clothing offer, with more recognisable

brands/retailers. !

15 to 24; 20%

25 to 44; 33% 45 to 64; 29%

Over 65; 18%

The London Road Customer

Under £5 16%

£5-£10 25%

£11-£15 3%

£16-£20 7%

£21-£30 3%

£31-£50 0%

£51-£75 0%

£75-£100 5%

£100 + 12%

Operator Survey The first piece of research is based on the Operator Survey. Retailers in the London Road area were asked to complete a short, prepared survey. Surveys were handed directly to store managers for completion and were collected later the same day. The information from the surveys was analysed collectively. Individual retailer responses are kept confidential. Operator surveys were conducted in partnership with the Association of Town and City Management and The Retail Group. In total 62 businesses completed the survey.

Average Transaction Values

Location 26%

Transport links 25%

Independent Retailers 18%

Car Parking 10%

Charity Shops 10%

Community Feel 7%

Street drinking 50%

Environmental/cleanliness

22%

Lack of choice (retail) 16%

Poor police presence 15%

Parking costs 10%

Area’s reputation 10%

Perceived Strengths

Perceived Weaknesses

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Crime Levels - Crime is seen by most respondents as something that is affecting their business, with 27% citing it as a severe

problem and 29% a noticeable problem. - Crime is clearly a problem for 83% of retailers. - Only 6% indicated that it was not an issue. !Other Findings - Circa 39% of respondents are serving over 1,000 customers per week with a further 38% serving between 100 and

500 customers. As described earlier, a high frequency, local customer with low average spends !- 42% of respondents indicated that they are serving more customers compared to the previous year; 38% stated

customer numbers are down. !- 69% of retailers surveyed said that they intend to remain trading from their existing premises, with 8% indicating

that they are considering re-locating or closing their stores. !- In addition, 95% of retailers stated that they felt the existing trading hours suited shoppers – those that disagreed

felt that there should be more consistency across the area as a whole. !- 50% of respondents have been trading in London Road between 3 and 10 years, with a further 33% trading or over

10 years. The area has a stable, consistent retailer base

London Road Ratings The following table illustrates the overall average rating given to the area for a series of statements by retailers. Each statement was rated on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = poor and 5 = good. !Ratings were measured against promotional activity, parking provision, facilities, destination stores, retail mix/offer, safety at work, customer experience, ease of use and staff transport to work. !- The mean rating across all statements is 2.5 - Promotional activity, parking provision and facilities all rated poorly. - Staff transport to work rates very highly. (This is likely to have artificially increased

the average rating across the statements)

Promotional activity 1.8

Parking provision 2.1

Facilities 2.2

Destination store 2.5

Retail mix/offer 2.6

Safety at work 2.6

Customer experience 2.6

Ease of use 3

Staff transport to work 3.4

Next Steps - Areas for further investigation or potential improvement, initiatives include: !- Develop initiatives to further improve the appeal of the

London Road area to local workers and also local residents, including students and families. Create strong reasons to visit, highlight benefits, etc. !

- Improve security for retailers and customers, remove street drinkers, etc. !

- Promote the existing offer; whilst retailers consider it to be only ok there are many positives that could be highlighted, including its convenience and ease of use! The area has a local and high visit frequency customer base this is a factor to promote to existing retailers. !

- Focus on improving and promoting its perceived strengths as the ‘reasons to use’ the area. !

- Reward loyal customers for the support and frequency with which they visit the London Road area. !

- Create more leisure visit reasons, such as events/promotions which will attract more people to London Road, more frequently. !

- Identify opportunities to further improve the ‘convenience’ of using the area, cleanliness, parking, access !

- Increase the collective area promotional activity

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Improving Security - Our Town Centre Liaison Officers are tasked with reducing shop theft and improving the feeling of safety. The team work closely with businesses, the Business Crime Reduction Partnership and our local Police Community Support Officers. !All Crime Overall crime in the London Road Portas Pilot area has fallen on average 9.96% when comparing each month to the previous year. Anti Social Behaviour Incidents of Anti-Social Behaviour reported to Sussex police has fallen on average 18.97% when comparing each month to the previous year. Shoplifting Reports of shoplifting within the London Road Portas Pilot has increased on average by 34.13% when comparing each month to the previous year. We believe this is down to more businesses being encouraged to report shop theft and not necessarily an increase in actual shop theft. !We would encourage all businesses to report all crime. Accurate reporting allows the police to gain a full understanding of the area and allocate resources appropriately. !Our data is taken from www.police.uk which lists incidents reported to Sussex Police, powered by data.police.uk

using OpenStreetMap data. Data compares incidents reported between Sep 2012 - March 2013 and Sep 2013 -

March 2014. !Improving the Environment - The London Road Portas Pilot has funded a number of public art projects in the area to tackle graffiti. The work has been carried out by established artists and includes maintenance ensuring the art works look impressive for months to come. The team have also negotiated increased street cleaning (including pavement jet washing) with City Clean. !Marketing - Earlier this year The London Road Portas Pilot launched it’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages. The launch was supported by advertising banners on lamp columns across the London Road area, a radio campaign on Juice FM, online advertising and regular press releases. In addition to the above the team have produced and distributed a number of marketing materials including newsletters, Visit London Road postcards and an Arts and Culture Guide during the Brighton Festival in May. !Other Projects The London Road area has been a hive of activity in recent months. Many other regeneration projects in addition to the London Road Portas Pilot are focussed on the area. !Lively Cities Brighton & Hove City Council is working to transform the area around Ann Street and Providence Place Gardens (the small park opposite St Bartholomew’s Church) into a lively, safe and successful public space. Work is due to commence in late spring and includes physical and environmental changes such as the removal of railings, new lighting, improved pedestrian access and public art walls.

The Work So Far Many of the issues identified from the operator surveys are already being addressed with more projects in the pipeline.