I founded a £4bn business and here’s my plan to revive Britain’s High Streets, says RICHARD HARPIN

Richard Harpin is founder and chair of HomeServe and Growth Partner, after the Wilko collapse, he shares his views on how we can revive our struggling High Streets.

Just outside Leicester city centre, Charnwood Street was home to one of the area’s most unique small shops – and provides a vital clue for how we can regenerate Britain’s High Streets.

There, at number 131, James Wilkinson and his fiancée Mary Cooper opened an ironmonger store that was self-service, an approach that people clamoured for back in 1930. 

The business flourished and Wilko was born, always adhering to the founders’ core philosophy of giving customers what they wanted and that everyone ‘got a good deal’.

Today, Wilko stands on the precipice and entrepreneurs like me know why. It forgot its purpose, its uniqueness. 

Yes, supply chain issues, a lockdown hangover, increased competition, cost of living and inflationary pressures contributed.

But Wilko’s 400-plus stores and more than 12,000 staff face a desperately uncertain future because the company’s leaders lost that customer connection.

What they wanted, what they were willing to pay, how and where they wanted to shop. 

Wilko’s leaders were too slow, too out of touch and too unwilling to learn. The brand’s uniqueness withered. 

Meanwhile, Greggs, B&M and Next are flourishing because their leaders know precisely what those companies stand for and their customers want.

When M&S this week reported an estimated rise in pre-tax profits from £495m to £560m – with a similar rise expected next year – it was vindication for a strategy focused on quality and value, technology investment and store refurbishments. 

Earlier this year, investment firm Brookfield bought my HomeServe business for £4.1 billion. It’s the biggest one I’ve built with almost 9 million customers but, along the way, we made plenty of mistakes and learned even more lessons.

At first, we didn’t have the right business model, then we didn’t initially get international expansion right. But every time we turned a corner, it was because of our laser-like focus on what mattered to the customer. 

The business we built for them was dependent on the bond that we built with them.

Today, the businesses that truly get this concept are the smaller stores, independents or pop-ups, run by entrepreneurs with a great idea, infectious enthusiasm and close relationships with the customer. 

NEOM Organics and Gymshark are both good examples of this. 

As a teenager, I set up a mail order fishing fly-tying business and loved talking to customers.

At one of my ‘pop-up’ trading events, a woman picked up one of my fishing flies, put it next to her ear and jokingly said: ‘This would make a great earring.’ 

It did. And within a few months I was selling them in hair salons across the country. All because I listened, learned and reacted. At speed.

Today, I’m using 45 years-worth of insights to help others grow their businesses and galvanise a regeneration of our city centres. I have already invested £55million into helping entrepreneurs develop their firms and now I am doubling it. 

Companies such as Passenger, an ethical outdoor fashion brand whose incredible online growth has been fuelled by its authentic sustainability credentials. It knows what it is.

When Westminster Council recently announced a brilliant new plan to transform a depressingly-tatty Oxford Street in London, I was thrilled. It’s a blueprint that can be rolled out across the country – local government collaborating with landlords to offer a six-month rent-free opportunity for entrepreneurs who already offer something unique online, to build a bricks-and-mortar business.

Those who take part in the scheme to fill empty shops will be able to build on their digital success and develop business skills.

And I know how they can become successful. I recently published a guide – Eight Secrets To A £Billion Business – and three are especially relevant.

First, have a robust omnichannel strategy. Virtual and physical must work in tandem, feeding each other, with digital marketing and advertising supplemented by more traditional methods. Use data to measure success and react to those results quickly.

Second, copy and pivot. If something is working well with a competitor, understand why and then adopt the approach yourself, creating something that’s uniquely yours. Imitate, but better!

Third, find a coach or mentor. Westminster is offering retail entrepreneurs assistance from those who know what it takes to win on the High Street. Enlist the support and advice of people who’ve been there, seen it and done it.

Visiting a Wilko store last week it was clear they had too many categories, uncompetitive pricing and customers weren’t clear why they would shop there.

 It’s a shame but we have to focus on the future which is why my sights are firmly set on a new generation of businesses, channelling the spirit of 131 Charnwood Street.

Because in a multiplatform, omnichannel world some things haven’t changed: be unique and always listen to the customer.