Office for National Statistics
This coverage explores insights from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) and their relevance to the retail sector, focusing on consumer spending data, labour market trends, price indices, and economic indicators. Reporting highlights how ONS releases inform retail strategy, performance analysis, and market forecasting — providing essential context for executives, analysts, and decision-makers in retail operations and planning.
-
Mar- 2020 -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…
Read More » -
Feb- 2020 -25 FebruaryComment
The changing face of retail in the age of digitisation
Retail: the 2020 snapshot It’s no secret that high street retail in Britain has been struggling for the past decade. Since the collapse of Woolworths in 2009, it has been clear that something, somewhere, has been going very wrong on the Great British high street. In fact, currently it is…
Read More » -
20 FebruaryAdvice
Boeing’s tanks fuel new concerns, house prices on the up, Lloyds in the doldrums, hazardous chemicals a pest in poorer countries
Boeing’s faulty plane woes have worsened after ‘foreign object debris’ (FOD) was found in the fuel tanks of two ground 737 Max aircraft – that’s the model that has had two fatal crashes and become the subject of Congressional investigation in the United States. The manufacturer had to ground the…
Read More » -
19 FebruaryAnalysis
Inflation jumps, physical money nearing the end, immigration to prioritise skills, £150m film studio to launch
Inflation has reached its highest rate in six months, at 1.8%, after the price of fuel and energy rose over the course of the last year. The consumer prices index (CPI) which measures the rate by monitoring the price of consumer goods, was expected to come in at 1.6%, so…
Read More » -
Jan- 2020 -15 JanuaryAnalysis
Boohoo more valuable than M&S – a sea-change encapsulated
From a purely journalistic standpoint it is now a de facto cliché to refer to Marks and Spencer as the “high street bellwether”, yet that is the status it has held for so many decades. The once mighty monolith was the first British retailer to reach a market capitalisation of…
Read More » -
Nov- 2019 -14 NovemberHigh Street
UK retail sales fall ‘unexpectedly’ in October
UK retail sales “unexpectedly” decreased by 0.1% in October, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS said that in the three months to October retail sales increased by just 0.2%, compared with the same period last year last year, which is the “weakest” growth…
Read More » -
Oct- 2019 -25 OctoberTechnology
Robots could take half a million UK retail jobs within the next five years
UK retail is set to lose over half a million jobs to robots, according to the 2019 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey. According to the study, the move towards automating the retail sector is being “driven from the top”, with almost half (44%) of IT leaders reporting that using automation to…
Read More » -
Sep- 2019 -19 SeptemberEconomy
Retail sales see ‘modest’ growth in August
Retail sales grew by a “modest” 2.9% in August compared with the same month last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The year-on-year growth rate shows that the quantity bought in August 2019 increased by 2.7%, which the ONS said is a “slowdown” compared with the stronger…
Read More » -
May- 2019 -29 MayAdvice
Disrupting physical: Who needs a store?
Only a few months ago, I was discussing the longevity of the high street with an e-commerce director at a luxury furniture retailer. Recalling the closing down sales in my local House of Fraser, I suggested it was just the beginning of an industry-wide revolution. His response surprised me. “It’s…
Read More » -
Feb- 2019 -15 FebruaryEconomy
Retail sales bounce back in January
UK retail sales saw a year-on-year increase of 4.8% in January, the highest jump since December 2016. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that sales volumes rose by 1% following a 0.7% decline in December. The average store prices slowed to 0.4% year-on-year, the lowest price increase…
Read More »
