According to Nigel Wilson, Managing Director of Experian Business Strategies, his company’s latest research helps retailers because “Knowing what type of people live and shop each location across the UK allows retailers to decide how to offer a different range of merchandise in different towns and cities to best meet the local demand.”

Sounds great, but how many retailers do we know that range according to local demographics. Large stores such as Selfridges can achieve this goal but most stores are still ranging in fairly generic ways. In some cases store ranges are even shared across geographies and climates where stores have franchises in Europe and the Middle East.

The research from Experian suggests that the Kings Road in Chelsea takes the top spot for Best Dressed Fashionistas i.e. women with a strong sense of style and the money to spend on it. This is not a great surprise given its reputation, but there are some other interesting facts such as Birmingham is home to the UK’s best dressed children and Leicester leads the way with ‘Brand Boys’, who spend their disposable income and time seeking out brand labels.

It would surely make sense for stores to reflect the local demographics but this represents a significant organisational and supply chain challenge. The increasing acceptance of the web as a shop front actually allows retailers to tailor their offer to individuals based on prior purchases and preferences, so perhaps the idea is not so far off fulfilment.