Comment
Comment features expert perspectives and thought leadership from across the UK retail industry. This section includes opinion pieces, analysis, and commentary from senior retail executives, analysts, and sector specialists on the commercial, strategic, and operational forces shaping retail. Retail Sector’s Comment coverage explores issues such as consumer behaviour shifts, technology adoption, sustainability, regulation, and leadership — providing retail professionals with authoritative insight to inform decision-making and strategic planning.
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Jul- 2022 -19 July
Five ways IoT is transforming bricks and mortar retail
When it comes to retail, the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to move centre stage, and not without good reason. It helps businesses understand their audiences better, deliver more meaningful experiences and reduce costs. Yet many people don’t realise that IoT made its debut in retail more than 20 years…
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6 July
Local authorities urged to respond to small retail businesses’ demands for digital skills training
Small retail businesses around the country have a lack of understanding of digital marketing with business owners and employees simply not having the right tools and information to make the most of the social media revolution, according to a new study. The findings have been published in a new free…
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Jun- 2022 -20 June
Why customer experience excellence must extend into last mile delivery
The growth of e-commerce and the increasing consumer expectations that have come with it has changed the logistics industry. The moment a purchase is delivered to the doorstep is usually the first – and potentially the only – human interaction a customer has when shopping online. Arguably this makes the…
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6 June
How headless commerce answers many retail tech issues
Work in online for any time, and you start to get used to bracing for the next big Google’s core algorithm change. The latest one, Core Web Vitals, was bigger than most, featuring prominently in on marketeers’ lives since last year for mobile, and earlier this year for desktop. As…
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1 June
What’s the deal with EV charging on retail sites?
There are already many electric vehicles (EVs) on the UK’s roads, and soon there’s going to be a lot more. By 2035 every new car or van sold in the UK will be fully electric. Before that, in just eight years, sales of new petrol or diesel cars or vans…
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May- 2022 -25 May
AI-powered self-service is the future of physical retail
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, retail was among the most impacted industries: over 17,500 chain stores closed in the UK in 2020. At the same time, e-commerce growth numbers went through the roof. According to Digital Commerce 360, “the pandemic facilitated a gain of around $218 billion in…
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16 May
The Metaverse: The next retail frontier
The metaverse has burst onto the scene as the next big thing, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbing it the “successor to the mobile internet”. So, what is the metaverse exactly? It’s a group of 3D virtual worlds, built by multiple entities, focused on social connections, that merges both physical…
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4 May
How retail can go hyper-personal
Offering tailored experiences to customers has been a goal for retailers for years. It’s not hard to see why one in five consumers who expressed an interest in personalised products or services are willing to pay a 20% premium. Delivering the expected But it’s not just about the opportunity. Increasingly,…
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Apr- 2022 -26 April
Why retailers must change their data approach to overcome Amazon
The post-pandemic business landscape has seen retailers fast-track their digital efforts in an attempt to become truly omni-channel – and safeguard against a repeat of 2020’s disruption. Conversely (and perhaps more interestingly), we’re also getting a better sense of where bricks and mortar fits into the strategies of the digital-first…
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20 April
SCA and the impact on e-commerce
What has been the impact of SCA in the UK? If you’re in the U.K., you will already be aware of the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). Brands and retailers implemented changes way before the deadline (14th March 2022) to help combat fraud. For shoppers, it’s a win to get that…
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