Comment: Jessops' dullness was its downfall

If you look at all the retail casualties of the last five years, a near-common denominator is their inability to fire the imagination of consumers about their products and services. 

I have dined out before on the analogy about the power tool manufacturer’s fork in the road decision, “Do we sell drills or do we sell holes?”, the point being that the right answer is “holes” because shoppers crave context and a narrative. 

In other words, consumers are bombarded with choice and “why” is an essential precursor to “buy”.  Shouting loudly and creatively about the significance and relevance of products and commenting insightfully and helpfully on the “shock of the new” can have an enormous impact on a electrical retailer’s fortunes.

When I was director of media relations at Dixons Group, now Dixons Retail, for example, I announced the demise of the video recorder, the 35mm film camera, the cassette tape, the floppy disk, the cathode ray TV and more. 

These stories gave vent to acres of nostalgic outpourings in the press and on TV about the central role that these technologies played in our lives. 

Crucially, they also created canvases for Dixons, Currys and PC World, upon which these national brands could associate themselves with this nostalgia and gently introduce the technology of the future.

But it didn’t stop there.  Wood-framed TVs were renamed “Tree-Vs”, robot toys were collected into an aisle and labeled “Roboshop”, data about usage patterns of new technology was turned into newsworthy insights about the relevance of the products to our lives.  All of these informative and light-hearted stories positioned our retail brands as the experts in their market that understood the “holes” dimension of the products that they sold.

When it worked, for example with product launches, the retail brands would get as much, if not more exposure than the technology brands that were being launched. I remember, for example, the launch of Windows Vista, which was front-ended with the news that PC World was phasing out the floppy disc. The link was that the first Windows operating system fitted on one disk whereas Vista would need 1,000 or more. Cue filming in our store for main television news bulletins, replete with demonstrations of Microsoft operating systems from the past (not to mention the queues of excited customers).

Fast-forward to today and I cannot see an electrical retailer that puts anything like this vigour into storytelling. The supermarkets are taking share and the specialists continue to fight it out on price.The lack of narrative is unforgiveable.

This point applies to any specialist retailer. Speak up, create news, share insights, be relevant, use social media to properly converse with your customers. Above all, don’t be dull. The till is everywhere these days. Good PR isn’t an option – it’s a necessity – and the return on investment can be as significant as a lifejacket.

This week sees the Consumer Electronics Fair in Las Vegas, a look ahead to the products that will be on the shelves later in the year.  All that media attention and all of those opportunities for specialist electrical retailers to have a voice – and yet no one seems to be doing it.

Comet became a wallpaper brand in the industry by failing to have a voice. Jessops similarly so.

The winner in this cut-throat market will be the brand that takes its finger off the mute button and uses its throat in an interesting and engaging way. In the face of pressure from generalist and online retailers, who are generally far better at storytelling, who that winner will be is far from a foregone conclusion. 

Retailers that are duller than the products they sell should hang their heads in shame.

• Hamish Thompson is managing director at PR firm Twelve Thirty Eight. Founded in 2007, clients include brands from the retail, technology, manufacturing, financial services and professional services sectors