US clothing chain Gap is the latest retailer to retreat from Britain’s high streets. Incredibly sad but probably not too much of a surprise? The uncomfortable truth is that we have too many stores today. Meanwhile, the pandemic is accelerating the demise of mediocre/status-quo/irrelevant retail. Gap is unfortunately paying the Read more…
Last night, I spoke to the BBC about the 12,000 job cuts announced in the UK this week. Retail will certainly not be spared: Harrods, an iconic brand but reliant on international visitors, and Arcadia, a retailer that has quite simply failed to evolve, are collectively cutting 1,000+ jobs. TM Read more…
The phrase ‘the Amazon effect’ brings to mind images of boarded-up shops and retail bankruptcies. We think of the 2,700 stores that shut or the 80,000 retail jobs that disappeared in the UK in the first half of 2018 alone. E-commerce, and Amazon in particular, is often positioned as the Read more…
Weather. Calendar shifts. Experiential spending. Retailers have many “dog ate my homework” excuses for when trading is less than stellar, but when a late snowstorm forces you to temporarily shut over half your stores, it’s bound to impact the top line. While it’s important to acknowledge the impact of the Read more…
A sad week for retail and a stark reminder of the dangers of complacency. Toys R Us and Maplin ultimately collapsed because they failed to adapt to changing shopping habits. Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room. What would make a shopper choose Maplin over Amazon? The retail titan’s Read more…
