Copy article

SMEs: When the big retailers wobble, how do you come out on top?

ended 02. January 2026

Today, Wednesday 28 January 2026, we’ve got more “high street shock” headlines. The Original Factory Shop has entered administration, with around 1,200 jobs at risk, while administrators look at options. 

GAME has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, basically a legal pause button while it figures out next steps. 

And this is landing just days after Claire’s also went into administration, again. 

If you run a small business and you’re thinking, “if they’re struggling, what chance do I have?”, here’s the truth. Big businesses are often slow, over-leased, over-complicated and they cannot pivot quickly. You can.

How to come out on top in this climate:

  • Get cash sharp. Know your numbers for the next 13 weeks and chase late payments like it’s your second job.
  • Win locally. When a big store closes, those customers still need stuff. Make it easy to find you on Google, and give them a reason to switch.
  • Make your offer harder to compare. Bundles, fitting, repairs, advice, local delivery, appointment slots. Stop trying to “out-discount” a chain on its way down.
  • Build your own customer list. Emails, SMS, loyalty. If footfall dips, you still have a route back to people.
  • Talk to suppliers early. Negotiate smaller, more frequent orders and protect your stock flow.
  • Be ready to hire great people. When big businesses cut, some brilliant staff hit the market.

Questions

  • If sales dipped 15% for 8 weeks, what breaks first in your business?
  • Are you relying on “hope” or a proper plan for cash flow?
  • What do you do that a chain literally cannot replicate?
  • If a competitor shut tomorrow, how would you grab their customers within 48 hours?
  • Are you collecting customer details, or waving goodbye and hoping they remember you?

Sources (full URLs):

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/28/the-original-factory-shop-calls-in-administrators-1200-jobs-at-risk 

https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidlands/news/2107786-frasers-owned-gaming-chain-hits-pause-and-alerts-administrators 

https://news.sky.com/story/claires-collapse-into-administration-renews-high-street-fears-13499342

2 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Premium
Debbie PorterVerified
Managing Director at Destination Digital Marketing
The collapse of so many high street giants is by now a sea change, indicating an evolution. Brands are falling one-by-one, when many of them have survived for decades - and it is this fact that makes it feel so shocking. Lack of agility to pivot or diversify, coupled with having grown to a size that requires constant growth to maintain fiscal health is often what has lead to the demise of these behemoths.

The overlay of the Debenhams brand onto the Boohoo model is a perfect case in point, where the adoption of a different mode of operation helped that brand survive, but that was a shift impossible for Debenhams to achieve by itself.

For smaller businesses, agility is a superpower. There is an abundance of opportunity to step into the gap left by the demise of these high street giants. The shopper purchase rates that weren’t enough to sustain a large network of stores leaves plenty of customers for small businesses to quietly mop up. Seize the opportunity!
Copy

Rohit Parmar-MistryVerified
Founder at Pattrn Data
The high street isn't dying; it's evolving. The collapse of bloated giants like The Original Factory Shop and GAME proves that scale is a liability when you can't move fast.

Big retail is suffocated by legacy processes. In our AI Audits, we frequently see corporate behemoths paralysed by expensive 'black box' systems that take months to change. They can't pivot because their technology owns them, not the other way around.

This is where SMEs win. You don't need a boardroom meeting to implement a new tool. You can deploy practical AI today to automate your stock forecasting or sharpen your cash flow analysis. But don't fall for the hype, automation isn't about replacing your staff. It's about removing the drudgery so your team can do what the giants can't: actually talk to customers.

While the big players are busy filing for administration, use the available tools to move fast and steal their market share. Speed kills, and right now, the giants are standing still.