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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Aug- 2019 -6 August
How to ensure bricks & mortar stores thrive in a shifting marketplace
Gone are the days when brands can get away with being all things to all people. A brand must build equity and position itself correctly to thrive. The three most important factors brands need to bear in mind when navigating a shifting market are: Be relevant – listen and respond…
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5 August
Spotlight: Retailers defying the high street doom and gloom
Joules British clothing retailer Joules has continued to defy the high street gloom over the past two years, and so far has not buckled under the pressures of ‘brexit uncertainty’ and the shift in consumer tastes and trends. Originally established as Joule & Sons in 1977 by Ian Joule, the…
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5 August
The key trends in angel investment that are impacting retail
Early stage angel investment is a good barometer of how an industry is likely to develop in the future. Looking at what is capturing the interest of investors in the retail space, a focus on uniqueness, ‘customer delighting’ and supply chain efficiency looks like a recipe for success. Customer delighting…
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2 August
Enabling speed and agility in the retail sector
Retail stores are facing huge changes in buying behaviour – 18% of all UK purchases are predicted to be online this year. However, the physical shopping experience still remains important. What has changed is consumer expectations as they look to replicate their online experiences in store. For any bricks-and-mortar retailer…
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1 August
The changing face of the retail car park
Over the next decade we will see a seismic shift in the way we travel from A-B. Widespread automation, together with electrification and the increased connectivity of transport and society will not only shake-up the automotive industry, but it will also bring the imminent need for change. Driven by government…
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Jul- 2019 -31 July
Getting PSD2’s new SCA requirements right
That brief sigh of relief you heard was from European retailers welcoming the EBA’s admission that additional time may be needed to comply with the new Secure Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements under PSD2 that are planned to take effect on 14th September. The breathing space is all well and good,…
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29 July
How retailers can survive the age of Amazon
Current high street challenges seem like a clear case of cause and effect. Last year, an average of 14 shops closed each day across the UK, while e-commerce revenues hit almost £96bn — with one particular player taking a £10.9bn share: Amazon. The digital giant has certainly shown mastery of…
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25 July
A possible antidote to next-day delivery?
If you’re a retailer, you’ll know all too well that deliveries go way deeper than simply making sure your products make their way to customers in one piece. We’re talking Grand Canyon deep, here. Because deliveries are a battlefield like no other in the digital commerce world. While increased customer…
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23 July
How Chinese consumers meet ‘Brand Britain’
Francis Fukayama is most famous for writing ‘The End of History’ at a time when history was just re-starting but in 1995 he wrote another book called ´Trust’, which I think is more important. It describes how trust glues a country together and talks of China as a low-trust culture…
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22 July
How retailers can fill the data gap on their shelves
The value of the shelf The average person’s attention span when standing at a shelf is now just eight seconds, but with 70% of purchase decisions being made at the shelf, these eight seconds are the most important for CPGs and retailers to understand. But what influences these decisions?…
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