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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Sep- 2021 -9 SeptemberHigh Street
Costa Coffee to increase staff pay by 5%
Costa Coffee has announced that all 14,500 of its store team members in UK company-owned stores will receive a 5% pay increase. From 1 October 2021, all store team members will receive pay increases of at least 45p per hour, bringing minimum pay to £9.36 per hour from £8.91. The…
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9 SeptemberHigh Street
61% of shop workers subjected to offensive behaviour, study finds
Some 61% of shop workers have experienced some form of offensive behaviour while working for their current employer, for whom the impact manifested as stress (45%), anxiety (43%) and a loss of self-esteem (19%), according to a recent survey of 1048 shopworkers by Foot Anstey. Foot Anstey said half of…
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9 SeptemberSupermarkets
Morrisons warns of ‘industry-wide’ inflation as profits drop 37.1%
Morrisons has forecasted “industry-wide” price increases across the retail sector during the second half of FY22, as HGV driver issues continue to cause supply chain disruptions. The supermarket chain attributed the expected hike in prices to recent commodity price increases and freight inflation, as well as the ongoing driver shortages.…
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8 SeptemberHigh Street
August online retail sales growth slows down
Online retail sales growth in August fell by 9.3% year-on-year, which was only a small improvement compared with July’s fall of 9.6%, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index. The index revealed that August’s results were still “well below” the six (2.25%) and 12-month (21.37%) averages, but above…
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8 SeptemberSport & Leisure
Supply chain disruption hits Halfords’ bike sales
Halfords has announced that global supply chain disruptions have hit its cycling business in recent weeks, despite cycling sales rising 9.9% in the 20-week period ended 20 August 2021. The group experienced “considerable capacity constraints” in light of ongoing disruptions, leading to low availability of bikes throughout the period. Availability…
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7 SeptemberSupermarkets
Tesco calls for apprenticeship reform
A reform to the Apprenticeship Levy could lead to an additional 8,000 new apprenticeships across the retail sector every year, Tesco has said, with 500 apprenticeships created at Tesco alone. A new report for the group, produced by Public First, outlines the supermarket’s contribution at a national level and in…
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6 SeptemberSupply Chain
Labour shortages could continue for two-years, CBI warns
Labour supply problems could last for up to two years and will not be solved by the end of the Job Retention Scheme, the CBI’s director-general, Toby Danker has warned. The warning comes as the CBI’s director-general has set out priorities for both business and government to guard against labour…
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6 SeptemberHigh Street
Nearly 50 high-street stores closed a day in H1, study finds
Over 8,700 chain stores have disappeared from UK retail locations in the first six months of 2021, equating to over 47 stores a day, according to the latest PwC research compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC). The research showed that in total, 3,488 shops opened compared with 8,739 closures,…
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3 SeptemberHigh Street
August footfall still 18% below pre-pandemic levels, says BRC
Total UK footfall four the four week period ended 28 August 2021 remained 18% below its pre-pandemic August 2019 level. However, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Sensormatic IQ data, the four week period represented a 10% climb from July 2021. In turn, August’s figures sat above the…
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2 SeptemberCoronavirus
Staycations boost footfall recovery in August
Staycations helped footfall improve in August by around a quarter from -24.2% in July to -18.6% in August, with the gap from the 2019 footfall level reducing to less than -20% for the first time since the start of the pandemic. According to the latest data from Springboard, Footfall declined…
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