Mike Riddell
I am Managing Director of Insite Asset Management (I-AM). Our purpose is:
+ to manage the retail mix and marketing of high streets so as to reinforce local identity and cultural differences
+ to bring together high street and shopping centre objectives so they save money on cleaning, security and marketing
+ to help the public / private sectors improve customer experience and cut bureaucracy, by sharing business information
+ to convert empty seats on buses and free spaces in car parks into rewards for loyal customers that travel off peak
+ to measure town centre workers against ‘customer experience’, so that low level crime and clutter are taken seriously
+ to help organisations work smarter by sharing our 21st century vision and objectives with the community, as well as the resultant savings
Recent activity
Comments (8)
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Comment on: Digital edition of this week's Retail Week
"Supermarkets lift local trade, research claims" as a headline is another result for Lucy Neville-Rolfe and her spinners at Tesco. Research commissioned by them does nothing more than demonstrate the financial state of our education system. When universities sell their integrity to big business for the sake of research fees you know the system's broken. Mark your own homework, why don't you? Who is sticking up for the thousands of small businesses that give colour and variety to the high street experience. Who is defending them from the hikes in car parking prices. Who is helping them to retail in the 21st Century. Who is doing something about the fact that the hearts and souls of communities are being hollowed out by faceless and soulless retail businesses. It's about time that those who really care about the people who run small businesses got together to do something practical. I'm just disappointed that no one organisation has had the balls or the aptitude to make that move in a way that shows how it's done. @mikeriddell62
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Comment on: Ethics men
If UK retailers did more visible stuff to help others breathe new life into shopping centres and high streets, would the public be more forgiving? Maybe. People are increasingly cheesed off with the unfairness of it all and I struggle to see it getting any easier the more the recession bites. Should more responsible retailing begin on the high street? Should retailers be leading this agenda more than they are currently? Isn't it time for a high street coalition?
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Comment on: Time for a retail coalition
I agree with both Jacqueline Gold's vision "Time for a Retail Coalition" and Stephen Robertson subsequent comments in his letter of June 18. But I say it's time for a "Town Centre Coalition". These questions need answering by those organisations that make their living from town centres: Q1: Why doesn’t the retail mix and marketing of high streets reinforce local identity and cultural differences? Q2: Why don’t the high street and shopping centres combine forces to save money on cleaning, security and marketing? Q3: Why don’t the public / private sectors improve customer experience and cut bureaucracy, by sharing business information? Q4: Why aren’t empty seats on buses or free spaces in car parks used as rewards for loyal customers that travel off peak? Q5: Why aren’t public workers measured against ‘customer experience’, so that low level crime and clutter are taken seriously? Q6: Why can’t we work smarter by sharing our vision and objectives with the community, as well as the resultant savings? The retail industry is in poll position, I believe, to leverage it's role by championing a cause that * Promotes the health and wellbeing of local people, businesses & the environment * Reinvigorates transport networks and failing town centre retailers, and * Gives local citizens a reason to start shopping in their town centres Investors in the wake of BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster are seeking income streams that are more sustainable. This is a trend that's here to stay. Town centre locations are the most obvious place I can think of to deliver an investment product that aligns people, planet and profit. Discovering what that product looks like will be the catalyst for sustained and long-lasting change.
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Comment on: Retailers among firms fined £225m for tobacco price fixing
Just another example of big business ripping off the man in the street. You never hear of John Lewis up to such tricks - that's because they don't have the same shareholder pressures.
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Comment on: Unlikely bedfellows
Isn't the simple truth that the high street is simply too expensive for retailers to trade successfully in the long term? It's no-one's fault that it's like this, and I'm certainly not blaming anyone for what's happened, but 15 years ago Tesco's clubcard didn't exist. 12 years ago Google wasn't around. Things have changed and the high street has been left behind. It just needs to modernise and move with the times. Read more on this here http://www.insiteam.com/?page_id=23 MIke.
