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.
-
Aug- 2019 -14 August
COMMENT: First bans for ads breaking UK gender stereotyping rules
As we reported back in May 2018 in the post “CAP considers new rule against harmful gender stereotyping” a review by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the Committees of Advertising Practice’s (CAP), which are responsible for writing and maintaining UK advertising codes) has introduced a new rule on banning harmful…
Read More » -
14 August
Get yourself a captive audience
I happen to know the high-end perfume shop at London St Pancras does a roaring trade. And I would cheerfully bet a week’s perfume shop profits that the next Duty Free you’re in does pretty okay too. If you’re travelling inside the EU the words ‘Duty Free’ haven’t meant a…
Read More » -
13 August
Adapting to the new age of retail
Following the recent closures of large-scale retail chains such as William Hill, the question of the high street’s future is once again on everyone’s mind. While undoubtedly the face of the high street is changing, closures don’t represent the high street’s swan song, merely its growing pains. Outlets which have…
Read More » -
12 August
Calculating holiday pay correctly
We are now in the depths of summer and numerous employees are no doubt enjoying their annual leave entitlement to escape the typical British weather. But whilst their holidays are hopefully trouble-free, calculating holiday pay can be a tricky business. What happens when employers don’t get it right? Background As…
Read More » -
9 August
Halting the demise of the ‘not my department’ store
Be it House of Fraser, retail bellwether John Lewis or in-the-wars Debenhams, department stores are in the news for all the wrong reasons – whether for profit warnings, sales dips or being sued by Sports Direct. The pace of change in the retail industry is ever accelerating, and department stores…
Read More » -
8 August
How Games Workshop is standing up against the UK’s high street woes
In what is still an incredibly turbulent time for the retail market, fantasy miniatures retailer Games Workshop has seen explosive growth in recent years and remains defiant against a tide of CVAs, job cuts and declining profits sweeping the UK’s high streets. And it shows no real signs of slowing…
Read More » -
8 August
Future proofing your brand in the age of the Sci-Fi shopper
When Sci-Fi blockbuster Minority Report’s tech-enriched vision of commerce in the year 2054 hit cinemas seventeen years ago, it was mesmerisingly futuristic. There is a famous scene in which Tom Cruise’s John Anderton character enters Gap and is greeted by the friendly voice of a digitised female avatar with detailed…
Read More » -
7 August
Buy Now, Pay Later: Here to stay?
The idea of Buy Now, Pay Later has always been around in the retail market, with companies such as Layaway operating with US supermarket giant Walmart for decades. Yet with the rise in popularity of the electronic credit card halting the growth of this form of payment option in the…
Read More » -
7 August
On-hold marketing
From fashion to food, high street to online, there’s never a dull moment in retail. Store openings and closures, pop-ups, new product launches, endorsements and partnerships are a daily development. The opportunities are endless, but so are the threats. That’s why an integrated and innovative approach to marketing – from…
Read More » -
6 August
What on earth is Mike Ashley’s game?
If you’ve been paying even cursory attention to the retail market over the last 18 months, you will know that the founder of Sports Direct, the billionaire Mike Ashley, has been on a mission to buy up the high street. As news of the torrent of CVAs and administrations has…
Read More »
