In a world of customer-first experience, don’t be a Debenhams!

I recently took to Instagram Stories to talk about the demise of the high-street chain Debenhams. Coming from a retail design background myself, this subject is something I feel passionate about!

In a nutshell, Debenhams recently announced that they are having to close some of their retail stores. Why? Well, a big part of the reason for these closures is that they simply haven’t created enough experience within their stores – ultimately failing to create a destination that people want to spend time in.

I think this high emphasis on customer experience has a knock-on effect on other industries too – having a huge impact on the property industry in particular.

Times are changing within the property market

Gone are the days of being able to paint your walls magnolia, stick a divan bed in a room, and achieve great rents for it. Nowadays, potential tenants expect much more from their living space – in the same way that they expect much more from their in-store retail experience, and why Debenhams unfortunately failed to hit the mark.

Why has this changed? The answer lies within our every-day life, and how we are continually surrounded by things of experience. We live in an age where people are accustomed to pop-up bars, artisan retail, and affordable cutting-edge restaurants. The simple fact is that the need for customer experience has trickled down into the property market, as these lifestyle expectations have increased.

Creating a better living experience for tenants

Here at Beespace, we design all of our concepts to fall in-line with the desired customer experience. A fellow investor once said to us:

In this day and age of being a landlord it’s like being on a conveyor belt. You either shape-up and give a better product, or you just fall off the end of the conveyor belt and into the lower end of the rental market.

We think this quote couldn’t be more true. Being Property Investors ourselves, we know that providing a better living experience with aspirational design to our tenants has had a positive knock-on effect. After all, who doesn’t want to live in a Pinterest-styled home that they can actually afford? As well as meeting like-minded people they can interact with!

Because of this, not only do we achieve minimum 30%+ on average rents, but we also experience low void periods, low maintenance issues, and lots of happy, pleasant tenants that respect the space that they live in. It’s a win win for us.

So what are you doing to offer the best customer experience within your property portfolio? Read about how to ‘brand your space’ here.