Black Friday
This coverage examines Black Friday’s impact on the UK retail sector, focusing on sales performance, promotional strategies, consumer trends, supply chain pressures, and operational planning. Reporting provides insights into how retailers prepare for and execute campaigns, manage demand, and assess outcomes — offering valuable context for executives and managers navigating peak trading periods.
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Nov- 2019 -11 NovemberComment
What implications will the Royal Mail strike have on UK retailers?
Royal Mail workers have voted to strike over job insecurity and employment terms and conditions, raising concerns that there could be walkouts in the run-up to Christmas. The announcement comes as we approach the retail industry’s crucial Q4 period where Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day sales all take…
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8 NovemberComment
Why retailers are responsible for customer experience this festive season
As retailers move into an annual festive shopping season that seems to arrive earlier each year, they would be wise to remember one particular lesson from Christmas past: when something goes wrong with their customers’ shopping experience, the retailer will get the blame, no matter who is actually at fault.…
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5 NovemberHigh Street
Footfall tumbles further in October
New figures from the Retail Traffic Index show a continued slide in footfall over the month of October. The figures, published today by Ipsos Retail Performance, revealed a year-on-year fall of -6.2% in non-food store visits across the month. Footfall did, however, show improvement against the previous two months, which…
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1 NovemberAdvice
How personalised strategies transform one-off festive buyers into loyal customers
News reports about post-Christmas sales slumps are becoming as traditional as turkey and stuffing. Whether it’s gifts for the kids or the dogs, everyone has a reason to shop during the festive season and any resulting casualties show just how competitive the retail landscape really is. With new customer acquisition…
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Oct- 2019 -30 OctoberEconomy
Shop prices decrease again in October
Shop price deflation decelerated to 0.4% in October from -0.6% in September, according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The results are below the 12- and six-month average price changes of 0.2% and -0.2%, respectively. Additionally, non-Food deflation decelerated to 1.5% in October, from -1.7% in September,…
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23 OctoberSupply Chain
Royal Mail strikes could cost retailers £8m
A possible Black Friday Royal Mail strike could force retailers to attempt to pass on 8.5 million parcels, or 105,000 van loads of parcels to other carriers – which could cost them around £8m in higher postal costs. That is according to management consulting company Bearingpoint, who revealed that if…
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Sep- 2019 -16 SeptemberAdvice
Black Friday: How online retailers can maximise sales this season
The Christmas sales have begun, and retailers are counting down the days to some of the biggest e-commerce days of the year. If last year is any indication, Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019 are likely to drive another huge peak in online traffic given the discount event is seen…
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12 SeptemberAdvice
Digital commerce and ‘the Goldilocks effect’
This is the single greatest barrier to digital commerce success for businesses and retailers alike. Take Black Friday as an example – there are so many moving components involved in launching a promotion on the biggest shopping day of the calendar year. All of these have to be stacked up…
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Jul- 2019 -9 JulyEconomy
‘Worst June on record’ for retail sales, says BRC
On a total basis, sales decreased by 1.3% in June, against an increase of 2.3% in June 2018, according to new data from the BRC. The group said the decline dragged the three-month average into a decline of 0.1% and the 12-month average to an increase of 0.6%, the lowest…
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Jun- 2019 -5 JuneAdvice
Personalisation and its role in retail
In order to encourage footfall and, by extension sales, retail stores are having to work twice as hard to stand out. This is particularly true for bricks-and-mortar stores, where competition is not only restricted to other stores in the area but the digital platform too. But both offline and online…
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