NBK RetailIt’s Amazon Prime Day and the bargains are flying – but will shoppers bite? What’s new this year and how has the competition responded? In this episode, Natalie also shares her views on Amazon’s latest personalisation efforts. Amazon may be the Everything Store, but it’s not exactly the Inspirational Store. How might personalised deals feeds, liveshopping and Prime Day experiences help Amazon to shift its utilitarian image?
RetailNext, the leading analytics solution for bricks-and-mortar retailers, today announced that it will partner with the Retail Think Tank to produce its quarterly Retail Health Index, alongside existing co-chair and global consultant, KPMG.
First established in 2006 by KPMG and market research leader, Ipsos, the Retail Health Index is the industry’s only comprehensive, sector-level benchmark of retail performance. With almost three decades of data, encompassing pivotal moments that defined and redefined retail – from the 2008 Financial Crash and ensuing ‘Credit Crunch’ to Brexit, Covid-19, the post-pandemic recovery and, most recently, the cost-of-living crisis – the Retail Health Index assesses the sector’s key performance indicators, including demand, margin and cost.
Each quarter, it is independently scored by Retail Think Tank members – an elite advisory board comprising industry experts, thought leaders and analysts, including Nick Bubb, former GlobalData Director Maureen Hinton, and NielsenIQ’s Mike Watkins – to benchmark retail health for the past three months, and predict how performance will evolve in the next quarter. This year author and Retail Technology Magazine publisher, Miya Knights, and retail consultant and author, Natalie Berg, will join the panel as new members, bringing fresh insight and perspective to the wealth of expertise and industry know-how of the Retail Think Tank advisory board.
Following RetailNext’s acquisition of Ipsos’ people-counting and footfall solution, Retail Performance, in November 2022, which had formerly co-produced the Retail Health Index, RetailNext will now produce the quarterly index in collaboration with co-chair, KPMG.
Paul Martin, UK Head of Retail at KPMG, commented: “From its very inception back in 2006, the Retail Health Index has been a formative resource for retail businesses and leaders, aiming to quantify the knowledge of the Retail Think Tank members in a systematic way, whilst also providing an assessment of the overall retail health, for which there was traditionally no ‘official’ data.”
“Having been the voice reporting on retail health for almost three decades, we’re excited to welcome RetailNext as our co-chair for the Retail Health Index, and through the partnership we look forward to continuing to help retailers set a course for success as they navigate the multifaceted pressures, challenges and opportunities the market continues to present,” he added.
Gary Whittemore, Head of Sales, EMEA & APAC at RetailNext, commented: “With the fast-moving and multi-dimensional challenges facing retailers, impacting every area and function of their businesses, the Retail Health Index is not just a valuable indication of sector health. Crucially, it also dissects and contextualises the key factors impacting performance, drawing on the extensive knowledge and expertise of the Retail Think Tank membership. This results in a quarterly playbook for retailers, which outlines actionable insights and strategies to create competitive advantage in the context of the market, to drive retail businesses forward and readdress the balance of health back in the retailer’s favour.”
As well as being available online, a digest of the results of the Retail Health Index, including wide-ranging insight, contextual analysis and exclusive data-sets on key performance metrics, is available in a quarterly report, which is free for retailers to download.
Are the UK supermarkets profiteering? Food price inflation remains stubbornly high at 18.4% – its highest level since the 1970s – and now lawmakers want to understand if the supermarkets are lining their pockets at the expense of the shopper. In this episode, Natalie shares her views on why the grocers aren’t guilty of greedflation: they have no choice but to remain price competitive, while simultaneously doing everything in their power to protect their inherently low profit margins. Harvir Dhillon, Economist at the British Retail Consortium, joins the show to explore some of the cost pressures that retailers are facing, whether inflation has now peaked, and why a supermarket price cap is a bad idea.
Brittain Ladd, former Amazon executive and one of the world’s leading experts in retail strategy, robotics, microfulfillment, logistics, and supply chain management, joins Natalie to break down what a potential Amazon-Ocado deal might look like. They discuss:
French retailing giant Carrefour has become the first grocery retailer to integrate ChatGPT into its e-commerce website. Its new AI-powered chatbot Hopla will help online shoppers make decisions based on their budgets or dietary constraints. In this episode, Natalie explores the potential for this technology to inject more inspiration into the online grocery experience. Food shopping is habitual and most shoppers are sleepwalking when ordering groceries online. Can AI solve that problem by providing a deeply customisable service for the shopper?
In this week’s episode, Natalie shares the highlights from her recent interview with Simon Arora, former CEO of B&M, and delves into Bill Gates’ prediction that AI will lead to the demise of Amazon. “You will never go to a search site again, you will never go to a productivity site, you’ll never go to Amazon again,” Gates said at an event in San Francisco earlier this week. How will the development of an AI personal assistant alter our habits in the future? How might it transform the way we interact and shop online? And who else is predicting Amazon’s demise…?
Amazon’s pay-by-palm technology is being tested in select Panera locations in the US. JP Morgan will also begin piloting biometrics-based payments with US retailers this year.
According to Google Intelligence, global biometric payments are expected to reach $5.8 trillion and three billion users by 2026.
Are shoppers ready for this next level of convenience? How will Amazon benefit? And how can linking loyalty programmes create a more personalised (perhaps too personalised) experience?
Boris Planer, Head of Consumer and Market Insight at the trend forecasters WGSN, joins Natalie to discuss the state of German retail and in particular why department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is closing nearly half of its stores.
Natalie also breaks down Inditex’s annual results, exploring topics such as:
Miya Knights, author, consultant and publisher of RetailTechnology.co.uk, joins Natalie Berg to break down the biggest news stories reshaping retail.
They discuss:
Listen to the episode.
I’m so excited to share the news that my podcast is now live and available through:
🎙 Apple
🎙 Spotify
🎙Google
In the first three episodes, I cover Sephora’s return to the UK, discount grocers and why I think sometime in the next decade Amazon will go from being the disruptor to the disrupted.
Here’s the brief. Let me know what you think by emailing hello@nbkretail.com.
The retail sector is no stranger to disruption. Technology continues to disrupt all aspects of shopping – from on-demand groceries that turn up in 15 minutes to in-store experiences becoming more seamless, connected, and relevant. Today, shoppers are hyper-informed, digitally-enabled and hungry for shopping experiences that reflect their 21st century needs.
Hosted by Retail Analyst and Author Natalie Berg, Retail Disrupted will help you stay on the of the latest industry developments, trends and innovations from the UK and around the globe. Each week, we’ll get under the hood of retail, covering topics such as:
For more, visit www.nbkretail.com