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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Dec- 2020 -10 December
Three ways retailers can set up retail success and fight fraud this holiday season
This year’s holiday season is set to be the most important retail period in living memory. With UK retail spending during the 2019 peak season exceeding £75.8bn, the stakes this year couldn’t be higher. Not only do retailers need to adjust their strategies to recoup in-store losses due to COVID-19,…
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9 December
The building blocks of app commerce
As the UK Government brings in a new wave of regulations to try to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus, retailers are entering their most competitive virtual holiday season yet. It is vital that retailers allocate enough focus and resource to their mobile apps as the channel that will…
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7 December
Re-energising retail in 2021: Three challenges and one solution
The story of retail in 2020 is one of extreme contrasts. On the one hand, the Amazons, Asos and supermarket operators of the world have all enjoyed tremendous success; on the other, almost every other segment of the industry has been decimated. More than 11,000 chain outlets shut in the…
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2 December
Why we should be focussing on repurposing and not death of the high street
For several years, there has been a very evident and well publicised demise of local high streets as they struggle to compete with the ease and efficiency of online shopping. This has led to what is commonly termed the ‘death of the high street’. According to research from the Local…
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Nov- 2020 -30 November
Arcadia Collapse: What went wrong?
Once a titan of UK retail, the collapse of Arcadia 10 years ago would have come as a shock to everyone on the high street, whereas in 2020, the road to its demise has been mapped for some time and has now finally reached its end – with its rivals…
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18 November
Planning for the new digital saltation
Digital evolution, over the last 10 years, has been a steady move from offline to online. Since the mid-noughties until very recently, we’ve seen gradual increases in online sales compared to overall retail sales. Then COVID-19 happened, and the world changed. But our desire to purchase didn’t. We still needed…
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16 November
The future of retail, where one size fits none
When writing this introduction, perhaps somewhat naively, I Googled ‘what was the most challenging time in all of history for retailers?’; thinking I could find some anecdotes about a time when retailers overcame hardships greater than those we face currently. As it turns out, the most challenging time in modern…
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12 November
How businesses can optimise their Google Shopping in 2020
Google Shopping has always been a core part of most retailers’ PPC marketing strategy but with the pandemic and closing of stores, many say the adoption of eCommerce has jumped forwards by about 10 years. With more and more retailers turning to Google Shopping to increase their online traffic and…
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11 November
AI is the key to closing the expectations-reality gap in home delivery
Online spending was forecast to overtake high street sales this Christmas, even before the announcement of a second lockdown. But the pandemic hasn’t transformed the way we shop, it has merely accelerated the rise of e-commerce. That’s because, when executed properly, it’s a very satisfying way to shop for a…
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10 November
The retail supply chain trends unlocked in lockdown
Following conversations and first-hand experiences working with high street and ecommerce retailers, we commissioned research of 200 senior retail professionals to further determine how COVID-19 disruption has impacted stock management and retail supply chains. The research revealed that coronavirus has resulted in four out of five (82%) retailers changing their…
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