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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May- 2019 -23 May
How a data-driven locally optimised digital strategy can save high street retailers
In a challenging environment on the high street, it is vital for retailers to optimise their digital marketing to attract local shoppers. Yet many big-name brands are failing in the attention to detail needed to properly promote their physical stores in online advertising. Some have paid the ultimate price. Recent…
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22 May
Is retail cashing out on PoS?
Last month saw Sainsbury launch the UK’s first till-free store, with its Holborn Circus store in London undergoing a complete refurbishment to remove the checkout area and tills. The three-month trial at the store, where 82% of transactions were cashless prior to the start of the trial, allows shoppers to…
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21 May
Retail landlords must stay focused in the face of CVAs
Recently announcing its restructuring plans, Debenhams has joined a long line of casualties for the UK High Street. With the culture of company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) still apparent, it is often the commercial landlords who find themselves left high and dry, faced with losing tenants and slashes to their rental…
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17 May
How Making Tax Digital is going to help the retail sector
Shop closures are an all too familiar scene. A recent study by The Guardian found that English and Welsh town centres have lost 8% of their shops on average since 2013 (equating to 40 shops per town centre). While the sector is riding the waves of a storm, the digitisation…
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17 May
Brands vs the people: the rise of independent online retailers
After the hard knock the UK’s retail sector took following the 2008 financial crash, things are finally starting to look brighter. Consumers are driving this up-turn with their clicks; with the majority of Gen Z and Millennials now choosing to do most of their shopping online. This year, more than…
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16 May
The state of the UK high street in 2019
We may only be in the first half of the 2019 but there has already been a continuation of 2018’s disastrous year for the UK high street. In recent weeks we’ve seen Debenhams slide into administration with other household names like fashion retailer Select and off-license group Oddbins both close…
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15 May
How AI-powered robots are transforming the retail world
AI-powered robots are transforming traditional warehouses into smart ones, enabling teams to fulfill orders more efficiently, reduce manual lifting and improve stock control. Now they promise to do the same for retail, says Red McKay, of Bossa Nova Robotics. The world’s biggest and most successful manufacturing, warehousing and e-commerce firms…
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14 May
The ripple effect of consumer data breaches
The number of those affected by high-profile consumer data breaches in the past few years is staggering; 50 million Facebook users were stung in 2018, whilst British Airways revealed back in October 2018 that over 185,000 passengers may have had data stolen in a breach. It’s evident that hackers are…
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13 May
How retailers can target the female shopper of today
Female shoppers account for a huge proportion of the shopping demographic and have an enormous impact on the consumer marketplace. In the US alone, women make up just over half of the population, and they’re accountable for over $39trn (£29.9trn). This means they have significant purchasing power – putting them…
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10 May
How to put the consumer first in modern digitally disrupted retail space
The retail industry has changed drastically over the last 12 months. The failure of retail brands like Toys R’ Us and BHS are just the most recent reminders that digital disruption continues to take its toll on the unprepared. The way we are shopping has changed, as have our expectations…
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