Retail Supply Chain Management

After encouraging signs in July of a possible bounce back to positive growth, online retail sales failed to make up much ground in August – slowing their fall only slightly to -9.3% Year-on-Year (YoY).

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on and presented challenges to small businesses around the UK and the entire world. As many small and medium-sized businesses lost a significant number of customers, closed for months on end, and saw a rapid decline in their finances, Comgem is going to be launching 3 new products to offer these businesses cost-effective solutions.

Luxury goods were the fastest growing cross-border ecommerce category in the first half of 2021, increasing by 50% compared to the end of 2020.  With global demand for luxury being driven by shoppers from China, UAE, South Korea and India, increasingly consumers are now happy to forego the ‘white-glove’ in-store experience for online convenience, the latest data from eShopWorld (ESW) reveals.

Ankorstore, the curated marketplace connecting independent brands with local retailers, has announced the return of its Lift Days this 20-27 September, offering brands and retailers compelling offers for the upcoming holiday season to grow their business.

Liftoff, a global performance-based mobile app marketing optimisation platform, in partnership with the global data and analytics company App Annie and native mobile app platform Poq, has released its annual mobile shopping apps report detailing the rapidly-growing market. The study reveals a historic and prolonged surge in mobile shopping apps use in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Android’s outperformance of iOS in key marketing metrics.

More than a third of people (38%) in the UK felt that their experience with customer service has got worse over the last 12 months, making it the highest figure out of the US and Europe. This is according to the Customer Service Index 2021, produced by Five9, provider of cloud contact centre software.

BDO has published its latest High Street Sales Tracker, revealing that total like-for-like (LFL) sales, combined in-store and online, increased by 20.1% in August from a base of -3.3% for the equivalent month last year. These positive results indicate a new wave of optimism for the retail industry but a lot has changed in the last year and there is set to be a long-lasting impact on consumer shopping behaviour.

The Government is denying visas to vital EU drivers and refusing to acknowledge the continued challenges facing companies who do business with Europe. As retailers start to stock up for Christmas, they face a severe shortage of products and drivers, claims ParcelHero.

Barely a day goes by without news alerts pinging up with another new development on the current national driver shortage crisis sweeping across the nation. From Nando’s chicken to McDonald’s milkshakes to Haribo sweets, the food industry’s battle continues, wreaking havoc across the supply chain as companies and hauliers warn that they can no longer guarantee all pick-ups and deliveries.

Following the unprecedented effects of COVID-19, retail businesses are focused on permanently shifting to online retail channels, according to Taulia, the fintech provider of working capital solutions.