RTLI could drive up to £9bn of sales back to UK High Street, NearSt

New technology will allow local stores to fight back against online retailers, according to research by NearSt and The Future Laboratory.

Their report states that Real-Time Local Inventory (RTLI) is set to make it more convenient to shop nearby than order a product online. This will enable physical retailers to offer greater flexibility, personalisation and connection with their community. The report explores recent trends including shoppability across social channels, increasing environmental awareness, and how the emergence of more local services will all combine with RTLI to create “a new dynamism for the High Street”.

Anecdotal evidence from NearSt's current network of stores indicates that RTLI could drive up to £9 billion of sales back into the UK's 200,000 High Street shops. “Today it’s very much a case of going back to the future for retail,” says Nick Brackenbury, Co-founder, NearSt. “Our parents would shop locally for a lack of other options, but benefited from the convenience, service, and community of buying nearby.”

“We’re close to a future where the best elements from that past will be unlocked once again, where your phone will know that the shop down the road has what you want, rather than an online shop shipping products from hundreds of miles away.”

Check out the full report here.

RetailEXPO

NearSt was recently announced as the winner of RetailEXPO’s 2019 Innovation Awards, in recognition of its solution that drives footfall by integrating with a store’s PoS to identify available product and connect it in real-time to local shoppers’ online search. Further details on that here.