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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Jun- 2019 -21 June
Why ‘out of town’ retailers still matter
In May, we saw the Treasury committee report recommend that banks maintain a physical presence around the country and Dave Lewis, Tesco CEO, discussing the contentious issue of business rates and how the current system doesn’t support growth, to which I completely agree. Pressure is bearing down on the high…
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20 June
How retailers can tackle discrimination, bullying and harassment
Allegations of bullying and harassment are common across many industries and the retail sector is not immune. Recently Lord Peter Hain, a Labour peer, used parliamentary privilege to accuse Philip Green of bullying. Lord Hain said he chose to speak up after hearing “horrible” claims of sexual assault resulting in…
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17 June
How retailers can use cloud computing to drive sales
Cloud computing can sometimes be misconstrued as a toolset only to be used by system integrators and software engineers. But that view is now out of date – Cloud technology is transforming marketing as we know it, and it is becoming the basic toolset for all marketers today. At its…
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17 June
Personalised delivery is the future for retailers
The retail and e-commerce marketplace is extremely crowded, with hundreds of brands constantly competing against each other to win basket conversions. It’s no secret that many retailers, especially those based on the UK high-streets, have been struggling over the past few years. Big brands including Debenhams, John Lewis and Mothercare…
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17 June
Tailoring the consumer experience
Consumers are increasingly looking for more personal, community-orientated shopping experiences, with a recent IRI survey highlighting that over 50% of UK customers prefer to shop local. While 10 years ago this meant visiting the 7-11 corner shop, a high street butcher or your local fashion store, the revolution of retail…
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14 June
The future of till-free shopping
When we’re used to hauling our shopping out of the basket and placing tins, packets and bottles on a conveyor belt or self-checkout counter, it’s going to be a little strange getting used to being waved through by a security guard without any interaction at the checkout. This vision of…
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13 June
Six tips to utilise the government’s R&D tax credit scheme
Research and development (R&D) tax credits are a government incentive designed to reward UK companies for investing in innovation. However, many retailers are not aware of the full extent of the areas that qualify as R&D and could potentially be missing out on thousands of pounds worth of tax credits.…
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11 June
Why retailers shouldn’t bank on PSD2 for protection
On 14 September 2019, the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will come into effect, introducing Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements and important ramifications for retailers. Designed to boost consumer protection and reduce opportunities for fraud at the point of transaction, SCA will mandate merchants to apply multiple checks to authorise…
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11 June
Understanding the true cost to serve
The boom in the e-commerce industry over the last 10 years has led to a saturated marketplace, with retailers facing competition from every angle: pureplay, omnichannel and Direct to Consumer. This saturation has resulted in a fiercely competitive marketplace, and will be worth over €200bn (£178bn) in the UK by…
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7 June
How FMCG retailers are personalising our supermarkets
Sometimes, the world seems to just turn too quickly; work projects pile up, kids’ schedules get too hectic – even taking the time to pick out a healthy meal at the supermarket can seem like an overwhelming task. As both consumers and busy people, many of us crave convenience when…
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