Pandemic
This coverage examines the impact of pandemics on the UK retail industry, focusing on operational disruption, financial challenges, consumer behaviour shifts, and recovery strategies. Reporting highlights store closures, safety measures, supply chain pressures, leadership decisions, and lessons learned to enhance resilience. Tailored for executives and managers, it provides insights to navigate crisis situations and strengthen preparedness.
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Feb- 2022 -18 FebruaryEconomy
End of free Covid tests will harm workers, Union warns
Ending free tests and self-isolation rules, along with no masks, represents a “triple whammy” for Covid safety in stores, according to Usdaw Shoppers Union. It comes after news that government ministers are planning to stop supplies of coronavirus tests to universities in England, in the first case of ending the…
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18 FebruaryCoronavirus
135,000 retail jobs lost amid pandemic
Almost 135,000 traditional retail jobs were lost during the course of the pandemic, according to an analysis of figures from trade union GMB. It found that in 2019, there were an estimated 1.2 million sales and retail assistants, retail cashiers and check-out operators in the UK. By 2021, however, this…
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16 FebruaryFeatures
Key fraud trends and how to prepare for the future
Large, all-encompassing historical events have the ability to change the way that society operates. These changes happen rapidly, but our adaptability ensures a sense of normality in unusual circumstances. In the case of the pandemic, businesses, and the way they operate, changed swiftly. But for the same reason that some…
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15 FebruaryOnline & Digital
January sees lowest rate of online retail growth ever recorded
January saw the lowest rate of online retail growth ever documented in 22 years of tracking at -24.4% Year-on-Year (YoY), according to the IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index. The index, which tracks the online sales performance for over 200 retailers, ended 2021 at +2.7% total growth in the market, which…
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15 FebruaryEconomy
UK labour market sees recovery as unemployment falls to 4.1%
The UK labour market has seen “continuing recovery” as the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% on the quarter to 4.1%, and employment rates increased by 0.1% in November 2021 to January 2022 to 75.5%. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the ratio of vacancies to every 100 employee…
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14 FebruaryNews
Employers set to award record pay rises in 2022
Employers have reported that the median basic pay increase in their organisation (excluding bonuses) in the 12 months to December 2022 will be 3%, the highest figure recorded in the last 10 years of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) reporting. The CIPD’s latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook,…
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11 FebruaryClothing & Shoes
Urban Outfitters Q4 sales rise 13.9%
The Urban Outfitters Group, which operates brands such as Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, FP Movement and Urban Outfitters, has reported its Q4 net sales increased 13.9% compared to pre-pandemic levels. For the three months ended 31 January, 2022, its net sales reached $1.33bn (£981.2m). Comparable Retail segment net sales increased…
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10 FebruarySupply Chain
Retailers cancel £7.1bn in contracts over ethical concerns
UK retailers cancelled £7.1bn in contracts over the last 12 months over concerns about suppliers meeting “stringent” ethical and sustainable standards, new research from Barclays reveals. The latest report from Barclays Corporate Banking, ‘Reshaping retail: how ethics and sustainability are changing retail’s ecosystem’, found that the pandemic and an increasing…
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9 FebruaryHealth & Beauty
Very expands beauty and self-care ranges by 94%
The Very Group has expanded its range of beauty and self-care brands on Very.co.uk by 94% since the start of the pandemic, as the online retailer reportedly sees growing demand for wellbeing products. Since January 2020, Very has added 77 new beauty and personal care brands, taking the category total…
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8 FebruaryAdvice
Online customers value personalisation and speedy order fulfilment above all else
Research conducted by KPS – one of the UK’s leading e-commerce consulting partners using rapid methodology and best-of-breed, agile technology for digital transformation across all customer touch points- has identified the top challenges UK brands face in 2022. The company tracked the change in consumer behaviour brought about by the…
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