These are special times for city marketing.
We love to stroll through the city centers in our free time. Buying something nice, having a coffee, meeting up with friends for a chat or something else. Simply enjoying free time and forgetting everyday life for a short time. Offline shopping has a very high leisure and recreational value. You see something different, you relax and gain new impressions.
We were granted this for most of 2020. And we have been in a hard lockdown again since December 16, 2020. In some federal states, a curfew applies from 8 or 9 pm until 5 am. With the exception of supermarkets, retailers and restaurants are closed until at least 10 January.
City marketing and the current situation of stationary retailers
Up to 80% of total annual sales are generated during the Christmas period. Retailers and restaurants have now lost almost all of this turnover. According to current statements by politicians, an end to the hard lockdown is not in sight, even as of January 10, 2021. This closure is hitting retailers to the core. Especially as many shoppers had already migrated to the large online department stores during the first lockdown.
It is also a special challenge for city marketing:
- How to promote the city?
- How to present the city as a brand?
when the local retailers are closed?
The big winners 2020
The big winners in 2020 were clearly the online retailers - the large online retailers such as Amazon or Zalando. There are currently many calls for a parcel tax to be introduced for parcels, for example, which would benefit brick-and-mortar retailers. However, this would be a step in the wrong direction. Even the HDE says that the distribution channels should not be played off against each other.
How can bricks-and-mortar retailers help themselves and what role does city marketing play in this?
We at PR Agency PRO have often reported on digilogging in retail, which is a special form of digitalization. Individual retailers cannot suddenly open online stores overnight and be successful. A strategy is required, a good marketing strategy. After all, you have to assert yourself against existing online retailers. SEO activities will not achieve positive results overnight either - SEO should always be viewed in the long term.
However, local retailers in a city can join forces and set up an online shopping mall, for example. The aim should be to preserve the townscape. In other words, the local stores should continue to exist so that the townscape is preserved. This online shopping mall should be more than just a networked presentation of different stores. Cities can do more. Cities and their local stores have personal contact and personal contact with their visitors. Just as a city is advertised offline, an entire city can be advertised online.
One platform for all retailers in a city
As I said, this platform must offer more than just online stores. It must offer the opportunity for customers to talk directly to retailers. In turn, retailers can also talk directly to customers and potential customers. Groups can be formed on such a platform, forum discussions on various topics and much more. Trade fairs can even be organized.
Retailers share the advertising costs, e.g.
The advertising costs are spread across many and not just one. Local retailers can achieve a lot in the community. The tasks that need to be carried out on such a platform are also distributed among different heads for the benefit of all.
City marketing - the cityscape should be preserved
In general, it should also be in the interests of city marketing if retailers become active and set up such a platform. The analog world is usefully complemented by the digital world. The cityscape can be preserved.
Everyone pulls together
Ultimately, if everyone pulls together, local retailers, city marketing, then it can be possible to defy the online giants and preserve local businesses. Jobs can also be preserved. The tasks of each individual may change.
The "digiloge" - digital - shopping mall for local retailers / companies