Features
Features delivers in-depth coverage of the people, brands, and trends shaping the UK retail landscape. This section offers detailed reports, case studies, and interviews exploring innovation, strategy, and performance across high street, ecommerce, and luxury sectors. Retail Sector’s Features coverage provides retail leaders, managers, and suppliers with contextual insight into business transformation, consumer behaviour, and the evolving commercial environment driving long-term success.
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Jan- 2021 -13 January
Physical retail in the year 2021
The relationship between the high street and its consumers has been somewhat turbulent during the coronavirus pandemic. Since reopening in June, nonessential stores have battled for the attention of wary consumers to tempt them away from online shopping, which became the enforced norm during lockdown. Undoubtedly, it’ll be a battle…
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11 January
What’s next for Primark?
Primark’s opening statement for 2021 had a slightly more sombre tone than you would expect from one of the UK’s reigning fast fashion champions. In a brief statement issued by its parent company Associated British Foods, the store revealed how it now expects to lose and additional £220m in sales…
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6 January
The year ahead in retail: An expert panel discussion
It’s been an unusual year to say the least, particularly in the retail sector. Some retailers have struggled as a result of the pandemic, but many have thrived as digital transformation becomes a habit and now preferable choice for consumers. Fast-growing digital marketing agency Modo25 hosted an online discussion with…
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Dec- 2020 -7 December
Re-energising retail in 2021: Three challenges and one solution
The story of retail in 2020 is one of extreme contrasts. On the one hand, the Amazons, Asos and supermarket operators of the world have all enjoyed tremendous success; on the other, almost every other segment of the industry has been decimated. More than 11,000 chain outlets shut in the…
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2 December
Why we should be focussing on repurposing and not death of the high street
For several years, there has been a very evident and well publicised demise of local high streets as they struggle to compete with the ease and efficiency of online shopping. This has led to what is commonly termed the ‘death of the high street’. According to research from the Local…
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Nov- 2020 -30 November
Arcadia Collapse: What went wrong?
Once a titan of UK retail, the collapse of Arcadia 10 years ago would have come as a shock to everyone on the high street, whereas in 2020, the road to its demise has been mapped for some time and has now finally reached its end – with its rivals…
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18 November
Planning for the new digital saltation
Digital evolution, over the last 10 years, has been a steady move from offline to online. Since the mid-noughties until very recently, we’ve seen gradual increases in online sales compared to overall retail sales. Then COVID-19 happened, and the world changed. But our desire to purchase didn’t. We still needed…
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12 November
TITLE: Q&A with Paul Boyle
Where do you see the future of the high street going? I think what we’ve seen over the course of the past few months is a fairly dramatic change to what we all expected would happen. Adapting to a Covid world was, for some retailers, probably not easy, and over…
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9 November
How retailers can change the way they make decisions
How often have we heard of the demise of a retailer being linked to poor decision-making? For a long time (at least pre-pandemic), an inability to combat the rise of ecommerce was often positioned as the reason for many retailers’ struggles. Just look at Blockbuster – we’ve all heard how…
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Oct- 2020 -30 October
Keeping up growth: How online retail teams can work smarter
It’s been a heck of a year for online retailers. But being so busy means teams are increasingly stretched. Growth in sales and increasing profit is fantastic, of course; but scaling brings both opportunities and challenges. With shoppers flocking online and ecommerce booming, the need for teams to work smarter,…
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