If the last week has taught us anything it is that sentiment no longer counts for anything on the high street.
In days gone by, major retailers relied upon the loyalty of their customers to keep the tills ringing and the accountants happy.
Shopping habits were ingrained from a young age and those bonds were rarely broken.
There was the family butcher, greengrocer and baker for the essentials, and then there was the department store for fashion wear, household effects and those big ticket items.
The whole scenario was built with personal service at its core a tangible relationship between store and client.
That model was eventually eroded as American-style shopping centres became de rigeur vast concrete monoliths filled with a myriad of different shops that through smart marketing and the advent of food courts made shopping a day out.
Millions still enjoy a trip to the shops, but there are millions more who have happily grasped retail’s latest incarnation the virtual high street.
Shopping online may still be the exception rather than the rule in the UK, but it is one-way traffic and the digital juggernaut that has already run over the likes of Comet and Woolworths continues to gather pace.
The advantages of online shopping are clear the convenience of not having to leave the house if you don’t want to, the ease of comparing prices to identify the best possible deal and the speed in which multiple transactions can be carried out.
In short, the web is quick, cheap and easy brand loyalty does not come into it as the most competitive offer wins.
Such a cut-throat environment is simply accelerating the casualty count, and historic camera store Jessops a shop that has helped document the UK’s social history since the Second World War and music retailer HMV famous the world over for the iconic brand image featuring Nipper the dog sat beside a gramophone are just the latest victims.
The failure of such household names may have seemed inconceivable even 10 years ago, but the pace of change in the retail environment sadly meant their troubles were inevitable.
With thousands of employees and hundreds of stores to be serviced and maintained, the established high street has simply been outmanoeuvred by the retail young guns.
The speed of change is only going to increase and there will be more casualties the whispers about high-profile retailers who are on a sticky financial wicket hardly ever stop.
The only way to win in the retail game these days is to ride the crest of the latest wave.
As we have seen in recent days, failing to identify or worse, ignoring the needs of the 21st-century shopper only leads to one thing more pain and more job losses.
* It was encouraging to see Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) make good on their initial commitment to Fife this week.
The Korean giant has taken three offices within the Fife Renewables Innovation Centre, and the 19-strong workforce has been tasked with getting the company’s enormous 196-metre turbine in the water to prove its technology in a real world environment.
Good luck to them in their endeavours, and lets hope SHI’s development work leads to something much more substantial in terms of economic impact for the region.
The prize that was dangled before the region by the First Minister and others a year ago was a potential £100 million investment, 500 jobs and a Fife-based wind turbine manufacturing facility.
Not something to be sniffed at in today’s economic climate.
business@thecourier.co.uk