High Street Manifesto 2016

THE CONNECTED DIGITAL HIGH STREET MANIFESTO

The Connected Digital High Street Manifesto is a shared declaration of our intent to ensure that high streets and the local businesses who trade on them can thrive for generations to come.

It has been co-created by founding partners across the SaveTheHighStreet.org community and forms the basis for an ongoing campaign to support and empower local high street economies nationwide.

The high street today

We are a nation of shopkeepers. Hundreds of thousands of local UK businesses in the middle of the most transformational period in the history of high streets.

Being a local shopkeeper today takes guts. Many of us are struggling. Some are no longer with us. The high street as we know it is under threat.

The future of our entire industry seems uncertain. Some say the high street is in decline…even dying.

We are not willing to accept that! We know our customers want to shop local. We know that high streets will continue to play an important and valuable role in most customer journeys.

Our customers’ expectations are higher than ever and their options have multiplied as they spend more of their lives, their time and their money online.

We must find ways to merge the strengths of local and digital commerce. We must find strength as a group. A better-connected digitally enabled high street needs to emerge.

The high street tomorrow

1 A world where the opportunities available to the big businesses are accessible and affordable for every local business.

2 A world where the internet enables local businesses to remain competitive rather than a force for disruption.

3 A world where organisations and individuals across public and private sectors who can help high streets, do so in a coordinated and substantial way.

4 A world of local and online, rather than local or online; bringing customers to the local high street and the local high street to customers.

5 A world where it’s clear what to do next in this rapidly changing world and why.

6 A world where retailers, restaurants, salons, cafes, galleries, pubs and other local businesses can all prosper.

This is a future where a diverse range of partners across the SaveTheHighStreet.org community work together to build a better connected digitally enabled, more successful high street. This future begins now!

The path ahead

The blueprint for success on the high street of the future has 10-pillars

1 Data

Every local business will understand and optimise their business through actionable real-time insight on inventory, customers, suppliers, the market and more.

2 Discovery

Every local business and anything they offer will be discoverable at scale to new potential customers around the corner, and around the world.

3 Fulfilment

Every local business will harness online to offline commerce, from modern payments to booked services, on-demand delivery and more.

4 Experience

Every local business, regardless of what else they offer, will be an experience, engaging and delighting customers whenever they visit the high street.

5 Product

Every local business will have the tools and insight to know what to offer, where, when and from which suppliers.

6 Brand

Every local business will have a clear and considered brand identity, that’s presented consistently and actively managed, both locally and online.

7 Loyalty

Every local business will connect with customers across channels in personalised, meaningful ways; driving footfall, engagement, sharing and increasing each customer’s lifetime value.

8 Team

Every local business will have access to the best tools and best practices to identify, recruit, manage, train, assess, pay, incentivise and retain the team of the future.

9 Money

Every local business will benefit from innovations in financial technology that are changing the way we connect to sources of capital, take payments, manage accounts, secure ourselves from fraud and make financial decisions.

10 Community

Every local business will have access to the local, public sector and industry specific organisations that can help most; increasing our voice on the key issues that affect us all and working together to make a stronger high street economy the reality.

Achieving your potential

Within each of the 10-pillars there are a number of specific opportunities that every local business can benefit from.

We will help you find your ideal path ahead

Insight into the different opportunities within each pillar
Training and support, online and at events nationwide
Recommended priorities for you from getting the foundations in place to cutting-edge innovation

We will break down the barriers to achieving it

Exclusive opportunities and offers to make and save you money
New tools and services designed to enable success on the high street
Leveraging the combined buying, sharing and lobbying power of the group to level the playing field like never before

Stronger Together

Savethehighstreet.org is a coordinated industry movement to support and empower every local high street business nationwide.

We are a diverse and fast growing community across sectors. We are shopkeepers. We are government stakeholders. We are media. We are innovators. We are suppliers. We are business associations. We are a cross-section of the local high street economy.

We have shared purpose, aligned incentives and a common mission

A thriving local high street economy benefits us all and we are willing to fight to make it a future reality.

We can all benefit from the movement and have the opportunity to play a role.