Bella Katz on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

There is a superb BBC show on Australian Foxtel TV Lifestyle every Tuesday at 8.30pm - it’s called Mary Queen of Shops and centres around Mary Portas’ quest to help independent English retailers modernise and thrive.

Before the show, I had never heard of Mary Portas or her Yellow Door agency. I had no idea that she was considered ‘one of the UK’s foremost authorities on retail and brand communication and is credited with turning Harvey Nichols into the modern fashion powerhouse that it is’. Now that I’ve seen her in action, going into small English retailers and opening their eyes to the fierce competition and reality of becoming viable businesses in 2009 and beyond, I think she’s exceptional.

I’m a marketer but not a retail marketer and I now have even more appreciation for those who understand the retail space at Mary’s level. Intuitively we all know which shops “work” for us based simply on where we love to shop, our handful of favourites. Now I’m understanding the science behind the scenes - everything from the art of merchandising a window to arranging clothes on a rack in a way that encourages buyers to visualise entire outfits. From the store flow and use of space that guides you from section to section, to the skill of brilliant buyers who can forward plan a season and translate often out there styles from the catwalk to every day customers’ every day lives.

I imagine now more than ever retail fashion is really feeling the recession pinch. Driving around Melbourne, a city that prides itself on its little boutiques and independent retailers, the For Lease signs are appearing in the windows of those quirky shops that I wondered about i.e., wondered how they survived and made money. Well, they often don’t survive.

I’ve been surprised from this show how out of touch some (many?) small independent retail owners are with 1) fashion, 2) customers and 3) the business of retail.

I mean basic stuff, like never hitting the streets and talking to or looking at what your target customers are wearing. Never going through magazines and seeing what’s in style, what your store needs to sell, what’s coming up in the next season. Having no clue as to why your stuffy, dingy store with hideously outdated stuff in the windows doesn’t draw people in. 

And I don’t know why I’m surprised at this, because it happens with a small number of all our clients I’m sure, but some retail owners just can’t handle honest advice and put up fierce resistance to change. These may be the same store owners who are about to lose their house, partner and livelihood because for the last 12 months they’ve turned over a measly average of $50 a day in sales.

That defensive obstinance may be ok if you’re a raging success with a fail-safe business formula but when you’re one step away from bankruptcy it’s time to listen to what experts have to say. Anyway, in most cases the reason businesses are a raging success is because they have leadership that is always looking ahead and asking questions, even when times are great.

Mary Portas’ next television series in the UK looks - very relevantly - at the Charity Sector. Not surprisingly those musty dens are also feeling the pain as people hold on to their old clothes and donations of decent stock dwindle.