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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Apr- 2020 -29 April
Twin peaks: it’s a time of peak purchasing, but not as we know it
Purchasing in the time of Covid-19 is fuelled far more by necessity than luxury, and it’s an unprecedented peak the retail industry is rapidly trying to adjust to. These aren’t indulgent puddings to follow your Christmas spread, or a fun new gadget you’ve treated yourself to because the Black Friday…
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28 April
Job support to be wound down, M&S dividend suspended, ventilator production slows, property market halts
Chancellor Rishi Sunack says he will wean the economy off his support schemes in a “gradual” wind-down, to help prevent soaring unemployment on ‘expiration day’. His announcement, made to MPs, came in response to concerns that a definite cut-off date would produce an explosion in redundancies and layoffs. Currently, the…
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28 April
Furlough – what next?
The Government’s Job Retention Scheme was set up urgently to support employers and protect employees during lockdown. Such state intervention, unprecedented in the UK, is designed to facilitate a quick rebound of the economy once business activity resumes. But as the crisis drags on, the lockdown has already been extended…
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27 April
Lockdown to persist says Johnson, clergy weigh in on behaviour of corona-corporations
The PM is back at his desk and says the lockdown must continue for the foreseeable future, and it would be premature to consider lifting now. After having been struck down with COVID-19 himself – and ending up in intensive care – the premier has finally convalesced and spoke from…
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27 April
How the supply chain might look after Covid-19
Strategy changes For many, we are likely to see a re-assessment in supply chain strategies. Reliance upon global supply chains will reduce, particularly on single sourcing of components, raw materials and finished products. Subsequently, this could also potentially lead to more positive encouragement of domestic production, manufacturing and farming where…
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24 April
Retail landlords reined in, France gets touch on tax havens, and insurers face biggest ever payouts
The government has banned landlords from using winding-up orders against their retail tenants, after aggressive rent collection tactics which threaten the future of retail businesses came to light. Tens of thousands of businesses in both retail and hospitality have found themselves unable to keep up with their rent during the…
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24 April
Oasis and Warehouse fall: Will the coronavirus pandemic force my business into insolvency?
With the involuntary closure of many businesses forced by the UK-wide lockdown, previously successful companies are beginning to feel the strain and becoming more concerned about their future viability. Many retailers simply do not have the income or cash reserves to pay their creditors at this time. This is not…
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23 April
The role of the physical store post-lockdown
The role of the physical store post-lockdown Retailers have been hit by an escalating “perfect storm” of issues recently – digital disruption, business rates increases, a weak Christmas peak, and now the Covid-19 virus. Businesses with greater debts, low cash reserves, and reduced margins were sadly always going to struggle,…
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22 April
The importance of strategic and empathetic furloughing
We’re hoping that we’re not going to have to furlough. We’re very fortunate in that we are still doing a lot of orders. However, the current uncertainty means that could all change overnight. To that end we’ve got a plan in place. We hope we don’t have to use it…
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21 April
How brands can use feedback to excel CX in the post-coronavirus world
The coronavirus lockdown is likely to change consumers’ relationships with brands in all kinds of ways. With a third of the world’s population under some form of restriction because of the pandemic, millions of consumers have hours to spend online, reassessing the familiar and exploring the new. At a time…
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