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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Jan- 2022 -17 JanuaryFeatures
Customer service needs for the post-covid consumer
Nurturing customer service continues to be a primary focus of businesses. Even pre-covid, retailers naturally updated their offerings to out-perform competing brands – why the groundwork concerning competition within retailers is said to have entered into discussion as early as the 20th Century; ‘assessing the complexity of competition’, ‘distinguishing its…
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17 JanuarySupermarkets
Lidl reports strong festive season trading
Lidl GB was the fastest growing bricks and mortar retailer for the second year running during the Christmas period, as sales at the discounter increased +2.6% YoY and +21% on a two-year basis. The discounter also achieved record footfall levels in the week leading up to Christmas, with footfall up…
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17 JanuarySupermarkets
Aldi reaffirms promise to spend £3.5bn with British businesses by 2025
Aldi has reaffirmed its promise to prioritise home-grown suppliers as it works towards its commitment to spend an additional £3.5bn a year with British businesses by the end of 2025. The supermarket has already invested an extra £1.6bn with British suppliers since the start of the pandemic as it continues…
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14 JanuaryEconomy
UK economy surpassed pre-Covid levels in November
Gross domestic product (GDP) has surpassed its pre-pandemic level for the first time as it grew by 0.9% in November 2021, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. In the latest release, output in consumer-facing services grew by 0.8%, mainly because of a 1.4% increase in retail…
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14 JanuaryNews
Peter Cowgill nets £21m after selling 10 million JD shares
Peter Cowgill, director of JD Sports, has taken £21m after selling 10 million company shares. The news comes after the retailer revealed it expects full-year profits of at least £875m following a successful black friday and Christmas period, which the firm accredited to the fiscal stimulus in the United States…
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13 JanuarySport & Leisure
Halfords golden quarter boosted by autocentres
Halfords has announced that total revenue rose by 13.9% on a two-year basis in the quarter ended 31 December 2021, as like-for-like retail sales rose by 5.6%, with a particularly strong performance in October and November. While sales dropped off in the latter part of the period in light of…
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13 JanuaryClothing & Shoes
Asos to move to main stock market amid sales boost
Asos has announced its intention to move to London Stock Exchange’s Main Market at the end of February 2022 after recording “robust” sales for the four months ended 31 December 2021. During the period, revenue grew 5% to £1.4bn, up from £1.36bn the previous year. As a result, the retailer…
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12 JanuaryClothing & Shoes
JD Sports raises profit forecast to £875m
JD Sports Fashion Plc has raised its pre-tax profits forecast to an average £875m for the full year to 29 January 2022, compared to the previous expectation of £810m, due to “sustained” consumer demand through the second half of the year. Additionally, total like-for-like revenues were more than 10% ahead…
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12 JanuaryClothing & Shoes
Weird Fish nearly doubles YoY revenue in 2021
UK lifestyle clothing brand Weird Fish has reported that its overall ecommerce revenue nearly doubled year-on-year as it took £21m in 2021, compared to £12m in 2020. It comes as it reported revenues of £7m online in November alone, more than the whole of 2019, after “ramping up its digital…
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11 JanuaryFeatures
Diversification – the pandemic lifeline
Business diversification is not a novel notion. Renowned e-commerce website Amazon is said to be one of the early companies that diversified its offerings, transitioning from a marketplace of reading material to the commercial giant it is now. The eruption of coronavirus demanded more innovation from businesses. Many firms across…
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