There was a time when many coach operators had a High Street presence, but our coaching insider points out that times have changed
If you run your excursions and tours business solely out of a shop as opposed to being depot-based, the question that is now often being asked is ‘do I need a High Street presence anymore?’
If you go back 20 years or so, High Street travel agents were usually part of a nationwide network such as Thompson and the like, but in suburbia you would also usually find coach operator-owned travel agents complete with the scale model of a Wallace Arnold coach in the window. I wonder for one thing where all those have gone? That aside, the booking office for the coach operator that offered not only their own tours and excursions, but a walk-in private hire facility have all but disappeared. [wlm_nonmember][…]
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Reasons for this are multifarious, but primarily it’s because the way passengers buy their seats on a coach has been turned inside out. As the type of people involved changes from a non-driving person who enjoyed being taken out, it has morphed into an online procedure or using an app. That said, National Express still has agents in its network and this may still provide revenue in commission only terms for vendors that will at the same time sell a ‘Mars’ bar (other sweets are available). Gone are the phone calls to the National Express chartroom where it could take half an hour to make a reservation for a trip to Birmingham, and that’s not a bad thing.
With a tendency for coach operators to no longer offer their own coach holiday programme, due to the exceptionally high operational and upfront costs, many will have turned to the Shearings, Crusader type of operation to draw passengers in, let them enjoy a comparatively local pick- up point and to receive commission that will cover the phone bill. No need to employ staff to research hotel rates or organise the 12-week upfront full payment when the holiday may only have just started to sell. How that payment system still exists in this day and age is a mystery – perhaps correct in business terms, but impractical.
Then there are holiday brochure production costs and print in general, which is hugely expensive, but necessary because those booking still usually want a paper copy even if they may well now look online first and then come to you to book. Advertising still has to take place in the locality to encourage passengers to walk through the door, or to get them to look at the website.
So a lock up shop may be necessary, but with the business rate increases that took place last year, the revaluations have added costs that are not recoverable, barring passing it on to the customer. Figures from the Office for National Statistics recently released showed that Retail Price Inflation (RPI) was 3.9% in September 2017. This figure is the one that will be used to set new business rates values in April 2018, on top of changes to the system that came in, in 2017. With rental increases also taking hold, many businesses are having to reconsider their positions. Whilst some business rates level below £15,000 P.A. may offer reduced, or in some cases attract no payable business rate, every penny now counts.
In real terms now, a High Street shop for a coach business will not necessarily have a constant footfall, but being in a prominent position will necessitate it being open from 0900 to 1700hrs on Monday to Friday, and probably Saturday morning at least as well. That despite the average coach passenger not actually getting on a bus to go there until after 0930hrs – and why should they? At the other end of the day at 1630hrs, there will be paid staff waiting for 1700hrs to arrive so they can go home. The shop still has to be heated and lit.
In a recent conversation with a country motor trader, it transpires that he used to have a prominent site located in the middle of the village and the locals all knew him and purchased from him. Last November there was a rent review by the owner which was unsustainable and resulted in the whole operation moving to a very rural location. In some ways he was better off having a forced move, because the business had become largely internet-based and costs have been reduced as a consequence.
Some companies have been able to lower costs by staying in the same town for their lock up shops, thus retaining that ‘local’ contact with the community, but it only takes a single incident, such as a burst water main to shut the main road for six weeks and to depriving the shop of its over 60 customer base for that position to be undermined. People couldn’t get there because bus services were diverted away. If that happens, they don’t book and by no means all of them are silver surfers yet. The demographic is changed. So do you need to be on the High Street? Not necessarily.
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