Coronavirus
This coverage analyses the impact of coronavirus on the UK retail industry, focusing on operational challenges, government measures, financial pressures, workforce management, and shifts in consumer behaviour. Reporting provides insights into how retailers responded to closures, safety protocols, supply chain disruptions, and evolving customer needs — helping executives and managers assess lessons learned and long-term changes.
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Mar- 2020 -10 MarchAnalysis
Banks to help us all out with coronavirus fallout
Once again the business pages on all major news outlets are pretty much dominated by the developing story of coronavirus – every sector has some kind of tale to tell. So here is the roundup from today. RBS said it will allow mortgage holidays for people who are forced to…
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10 MarchHigh Street
Calls for ‘discretionary business rates relief’ amid Coronavirus outbreak
Colliers International has called on the UK Government to consider and to fund a system of “discretionary rate relief” for businesses impacted by the Coronavirus. The commercial real estate company said this is one of the measures that could “alleviate business pain” in this week’s Budget. It added that against…
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10 MarchClothing & Shoes
French Connection posts £3m loss as it warns of continued tough trading
French Connection has revealed it has swung to a £2.9m loss for the full-year period ending 31 January 2020 and has warned of “continued difficult trading conditions”. The underlying loss comes after a restated underlying profit of £0.8m the previous year. Group revenue was also down 11.4% to £119.9m compared…
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10 MarchHigh Street
DFS sales slide amid ‘challenging’ conditions
DFS has announced that its group revenue fell by 5.7% to £488m in the half-year period ended 29 December 2019. The furniture retailer said that such results were “as expected” against a “strong” comparative period, however, which was bolstered by “latent demand” and a higher opening order book. Meanwhile, gross…
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9 MarchHigh Street
Footfall slides in February
Hopes for a stronger footfall were “washed away” last month, according to the latest footfall monitor released by Springboard. The retail data group said that high street footfall fell by 7.8% in February, highlighting “the fragility of the high street”. Shopping centre footfall fell by 2.5%, while retail parks saw…
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6 MarchBusiness Bites
Flybe’s pensions in doubt; Poorest 20% no better off than before, 1m Virgin customers on unsecured database
Flybe’s pension pot for 1,350 current and former workers is at risk, as the fallout from one of the first casualties of the coronavirus business threat manifests in full. Flybe of course was already embattled before the new Covid-19 virus came along, and was the subject of a controversial bailout…
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6 MarchHigh Street
February retail sales hit by poor weather and Coronavirus concerns
Total in-store retail sales declined by 0.9% in February, according to BDO’s monthly High Street Sales Tracker. The accountancy firm said a mix of poor weather and “growing concerns” around the spread of coronavirus caused retailers to take a hit during the month. Despite this, online sales saw a slight…
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6 March
CMA urges retailers to ‘behave responsibly’ amid Coronavirus panic
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has urged retailers to not “take advantage of people” and “exploit” the current Coronavirus situation. It said it will consider any evidence that companies have “broken competition or consumer protection law” by hiking prices or making misleading claims about protective equipment. The CMA will…
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4 MarchComment
Mitigating the risk of coronavirus to UK supply chains
As manufacturers and retailers run down their ‘pre-Brexit’ stockpiles, pressure on warehouse space in the UK may appear to be tempered for the moment – although there can be little doubt that there will be another ‘cliff-edge’ event at the end of the year as the EU-UK trade talks approach Boris’ deadline.…
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3 MarchBusiness Bites
Coronavirus is stepping up a gear – this could be serious
When I started this column back in December I did not anticipate a single subject would dominate it so much, but as I wrote last week it would be silly not to address the latest coronavirus circumstances given that each new development so far has had a profound impact on…
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