Retail Critical Issues

According to recent figures, high street footfall remains subdued in England, with those shoppers who are making it out, more likely to now shop with a purpose. This means that all retailers, especially non-essential retailers like the luxury sector, need to make every effort to be as ‘easy to do business with’ as possible. Craig Summers, UK Managing Director, Manhattan Associates, explores how this can be achieved.

In today’s uncertain environment, there are more factors than ever before that organisations need to consider when managing risk in their supply chains. Whether it’s mitigating the impact of COVID-19, the long-term effects of Brexit or the effects of global tariff changes, organisations need to have contingency plans in place.

In normal times, manufacturers and retailers would now be setting up the supply, warehousing and transport contracts to ensure the resilience of their supply and distribution chains against a series of ‘known unknowns’. A new Premier League season, Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter … even if their magnitude is uncertain, the timings, at least, are firmly in the diary.

When the easing of lockdown measures began in mid-May, many businesses began a journey to assess the Coronavirus risks that applied to their workplaces. To make sure their working environments were COVID Secure, they went on to develop additional physical and procedural measures.

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Subscription services and automatic deliveries are not new to the eCommerce space, but are set to continue growing, meaning any retailer with relevant products not implementing this into their customer experience are falling behind the competition.

UK consumers have grown more comfortable with returning to the shops, according to the latest EY Future Consumer Index, which finds comfort levels with traditional shopping behaviours – such as going to a shopping mall and trying on clothes or going to the grocery store – have all more than doubled since May.

Further consolidation in the logistics market is expected, despite a significant fall in UK deal activity – the lowest level since Q1 2018.

Transaction volumes in the UK logistics industry have fallen by 50% in the second quarter of 2020, according to the latest report from national accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP.

The UK lockdown has seen an increase in new companies forming to meet the demands resulting from coronavirus, with ‘COVID-19’, ‘lockdown’ and ‘pandemic’ featuring heavily in the names of new businesses created since March. And retail accounts for 10 per cent of the lockdown-inspired business start-up sector, as businesses and entrepreneurs look to meet increased retail demand during the pandemic.

A total of 22 million people, representing 40.6% of UK consumers, have used or plan to use the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, according to a survey by data and analytics company GlobalData.