Reflections on the retail industry as Christmas fast approaches

Sam Vickerman, our Retail and Insurance Practice Director, shares her thoughts on the current challenges within the retail industry.

It’s an interesting time in the world of retail, with challenges such as Brexit and the uncertainty and complexity of trading which has introduced shipping costs standing at the highest levels in 10 years.

Despite this, we’ve seen our clients deliver some exciting projects, including Central England Co-op rolling out body cams to over 50 stores, and new e-commerce client Hotter Shoes increasing revenue by 37% due to headless commerce revamp.
The road ahead for retail remains a challenging one: a supply chain crisis has left 1 in 6 UK adults unable to purchase essential food items over the past two weeks according to the Office of National Statistics.

The ongoing driver shortage likely means fewer products on our shelves and a consequent boost in prices, and with Christmas around the corner, are we expecting to see an influx of panic buyers as we did at the start of the pandemic? As retailers face the busiest point in the year, they now must prepare for an additional logistics challenge in order to maintain competitiveness in the market and uphold customer satisfaction.

The Retail Gazette shared thoughts on the matter from the Managing Partner at the digital agency Foolproof, George Ioannou.
“Investment in technologies to automate and streamline the supply chain such as AI and robotics (to name a few) will also help retailers to manage warehouses more effectively, meaning immediate demand is met and, using machine learning, forecast ahead of time.”