Technology
This coverage explores how technology shapes the UK retail sector, focusing on digital transformation, e-commerce platforms, in-store innovations, data analytics, and supply chain systems. Reporting highlights how retailers leverage technology to improve efficiency, enhance customer experience, and stay competitive — offering insight for executives, managers, and professionals driving retail innovation and operations.
-
Sep- 2019 -11 SeptemberAdvice
Time is critical: Getting ‘retail fast’ right
Stories of store closures seem to be near constant, and calls for “the death of retail” or “the end of the high-street” seem to happen every day. At the same time, a new wave of retailers – often with their roots in e-commerce – are investing in physical presence as…
Read More » -
Aug- 2019 -28 AugustAdvice
Two key pillars that define success for modern retailing
While the news shines a gloomy light on the state of a retail industry, the statistics reveal a more positive outlook. With e-commerce figures climbing year on year and retailers reporting a more engaged, communicative customer base, the industry may simply be in transition, rather than turmoil, as the model…
Read More » -
16 AugustComment
The case for personalisation
From the dawn of modern consumerism offering a personal touch was a key differentiator for high-quality retailers and service providers keen to set themselves apart from the rest. Remembering client names, previous purchases or children’s birthdays added that ‘je ne sais quoi’ that bonded retailer to customer. It fostered loyalty,…
Read More » -
5 AugustComment
The key trends in angel investment that are impacting retail
Early stage angel investment is a good barometer of how an industry is likely to develop in the future. Looking at what is capturing the interest of investors in the retail space, a focus on uniqueness, ‘customer delighting’ and supply chain efficiency looks like a recipe for success. Customer delighting…
Read More » -
Jun- 2019 -6 JuneEconomy
Banking red tape holding back UK retailers abroad
Almost three quarters (71%) of UK retailers would like their businesses to further expand internationally, however most (57%) believe overseas expansion is fraught with risk, according to new research conducted by buy now, pay later service Laybuy. The research, published today (6 June), surveyed over 200 UK retailers and…
Read More » -
3 JuneAdvice
Why retailers should add automation to their contact centres
In the face of a struggling UK high street, retailers need to do whatever they can to boost sales and draw in customers. Many have already turned to emerging technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help grow online purchases in the face of plummeting in-store sales, and this is a…
Read More » -
May- 2019 -17 MayComment
How Making Tax Digital is going to help the retail sector
Shop closures are an all too familiar scene. A recent study by The Guardian found that English and Welsh town centres have lost 8% of their shops on average since 2013 (equating to 40 shops per town centre). While the sector is riding the waves of a storm, the digitisation…
Read More » -
Mar- 2019 -25 MarchAnalysis
Designing the stores of the future
The ever-increasing shift to online shopping, powered by e-tail giants such as Amazon, and the rise of mobile and social commerce dovetailing the consumer desire for experiences, have impacted the British high street. While retailers are under severe pressure, this is far from the end of physical retail stores. Many…
Read More » -
15 MarchAnalysis
The future of advertising creativity in retail
One of the questions that I get asked time and again is: What is the future for advertising creativity in a retail world that is more and more being driven by data? It’s a tough one to answer but a guy called John Wanamaker – who was a US merchant…
Read More » -
13 MarchAdvice
Reimagining the retail bridge between online and offline shopping
The rise of retail giants like Amazon is a widely documented trend with many digital, built-in-the-cloud market entrants having overtaken and displaced the entrenched high street brands we’ve loved and are now losing. However, as more bricks-and-mortar retailers expand their e-commerce offerings and online giants increasingly begin to physically ‘set…
Read More »
