Christmas
This coverage explores the critical Christmas trading period in the UK retail sector, focusing on sales performance, promotional strategies, consumer trends, supply chain planning, and operational challenges. Reporting highlights how retailers prepare for and execute peak season campaigns to maximise revenue and manage demand. Designed for executives and managers, it provides insights into effective planning and competitive positioning during the festive season.
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Sep- 2019 -26 SeptemberSupermarkets
Tesco scraps its first-ever Jack’s store
Tesco has confirmed it is closing the first-ever discount Jack’s store, only around a year after it unveiled its new concept. The store in Rawtenstall, East Lancashire, was the first ever discount store that the ‘Big Four Grocer’ opened as it looked to rival the German discount supermarkets Aldi and…
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20 SeptemberAdvice
Resurrecting Retail through Improvement of Customer Service
The retail sector is used to bustling sales and packed shoppers during bank holiday weekends. However, the latest data showed a sharp drop of 1.9% in footfall on bank holiday Monday compared to August 2018. Why has this decline occurred? Why are high streets failing to generate equal or higher…
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20 SeptemberHigh Street
High Court rejects legal challenge against Debenhams CVA
The High Court has rejected the legal challenge against Debenhams proposed CVA, which was funded by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct. The challenge was made by the Combined Property Control Group (CPC) – the landlord of six Debenhams stores in England as it argued the CVA was “designed to create a…
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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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16 SeptemberHigh Street
Clintons calls in KPMG as it mulls over potential sale
Greetings card retailer Clintons has called in advisers from KPMG as its owners explore a potential sale of the business. According to Sky News, its US-based parent company American Greetings is considering a sale just seven years after it acquired the company and forced it into administration. The ‘Big Four’…
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6 SeptemberAdvice
The festive season survival guide
As the uncertainties caused by the likes of Brexit, PSD2 and strong customer authentication swirl around retailers, life still presents its certainties: death, taxes and the mad rush produced annually by the approaching Christmas shopping season. No doubt the festive season is a positive for retailers, a spike in orders…
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Aug- 2019 -29 AugustAdvice
Capitalising on click and collect
Many consumers are turning to click and collect for their online purchases rather than opting for home delivery. In fact, this is a growing market as shoppers recognise the convenience of picking up their goods when it suits them. For example, retailers such as Boots and Next reported that 75%…
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22 AugustHigh Street
Tobar places Hawkins Bazaar up for sale
Toy and gift retailer Hawkins Bazaar has been brought to the market by its owner Tobar International. The retailer, which began life as a mail order sales business in the 1970s, has grown over the years to include an online retail platform and national portfolio of 23 stores, most of…
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21 AugustAnalysis
How food retailers can capitalise on AI’s potential
The grocery sector is preparing for a period of unprecedented disruption as food retailers battle to discover new sources of value for consumers. Focusing on the fundamental aims of improving customer service, loyalty and integration of digital and real-life experience, retailers are seeking out ways to better understand shoppers’ buying…
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9 AugustComment
Halting the demise of the ‘not my department’ store
Be it House of Fraser, retail bellwether John Lewis or in-the-wars Debenhams, department stores are in the news for all the wrong reasons – whether for profit warnings, sales dips or being sued by Sports Direct. The pace of change in the retail industry is ever accelerating, and department stores…
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