Author: Leigh Sparks
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May 2023 – Two new articles and a book chapter noted on the Journal Articles page
February 2023 – New piece for The Conversation on online retailing (see commentaries tab)
January 2023 – Roll over of some areas for new year, plus The Conversation piece on Christmas trading updates published (see commentaries tab) and main posts
December 2022 – End of year tidying up and re-arrangement, including link to EDAS podcast on places and towns (see presentations tab)
Top Posts & Pages
- Transformative Food Retailing, Data and Consumers
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- The architectural heritage of Montague Burton’s Art Deco shops
- Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Are Retailers Social Engineers?
- Food, health and data: developing transformative food retailing
- Strange Things in Self-Service
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Category Archives: Black Friday
Queen Bees : Q-commerce, the on-demand world and the changing meaning of online retailing
Online retailing is now close to 30 years old. It has seen an almost relentless growth over much of this period, accelerated by events such as Black Friday and Christmas, and more recently super-charged by the pandemic and lockdown. The … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Availability, Black Friday, Community, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumers, Convenience stores, Customer Service, Dark Stores, Employment practices, Food Retailing, Home, Home Delivery, Internet, Internet shopping, Just in Time, Office for National Statistics, On demand retailing, Online Retailing, Q-commerce, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping
Tagged Amazon, Community, Convenience, Convenience stores, Dark Stores, Gig Economy, Home Delivery, internet retailing, Neighbourhood, On demand retailing, Q-commerce, Tesco
1 Comment
Scottish and Online Retail Sales in Lockdown
I am catching up on some of the recently published data about retail sales. This short post has graphs from two sources (a) the Scottish Retail Sales Monitor, published by the Scottish Retail Consortium and (b) Internet sales as a … Continue reading
Posted in Black Friday, Consumer Change, Consumers, Covid19, Data, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retailing, Uncategorized
Tagged Covid-19, Food retailing, Lockdown, Non-food retail, Online, Pandemic, Retail Sales, Sales Data, Scotland
3 Comments
Some thoughts on the ASOS profit warning
The ASOS news this week was to many something of a surprise, but in reality it really shouldn’t be. A profit warning on Monday wiped almost 40% off its share price and impacted other retailers as well. Many of these … Continue reading
Posted in Asos, Black Friday, Brexit, Christmas, Competition, Consumer Change, Customer Service, Internet, Internet shopping, Online Retailing, Profits, Rates, Retail Change, Retailing, Tax, Uncategorized
Tagged Asos, Black Friday, Brexit, Business rates, Christmas, Consumers, High Street, Internet, Margin, Profits, Retail Crisis, Shares, Tax, Warnings
4 Comments
“The Ridiculous is no longer Unimaginable”
The other day I received an email saying that the 2016-2017 Annual Review of the Retail Think Tank was available. It can be accessed and downloaded from here. The Retail Think Tank is just over 10 years old, being conceived … Continue reading
Posted in Black Friday, Brands, Competition, Consumer Change, European Union, International Retailing, Retail Change, Retail Health Index, Retail leadership, Retail Think Tank, Retailers, Store Closures
Tagged Retail Change, Retail Crisis, Retail Health Index, Retail Think Tank, Retailers
5 Comments
Fight Time? The Boxing Day Petition
The issue of opening hours for shops is something that has been an ever-present during my time as an academic. The product-based absurdities of the late 1970s and early 1980s were eventually swept away as opening hours were modernised and … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Black Friday, Boxing Day, Campaigns, Christmas, Consumer Lifestyle, Cyber Monday, Employees, Employment, Employment practices, Government, Internet shopping, Legislation, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Petitions, Regulation, Small Shops, Supermarket
Tagged Alcohol, Boxing Day, Christmas, Delivery, Employees, Legislation, Online retailing, Opening Hours, Petitions, Supermarkets
6 Comments
The Perfect Storm?
Are the storms getting worse now that someone has decided to give them names? Certainly by the time Frank had finished with my garden, I’d pretty much got the swimming pool I always thought that I had not wanted. And … Continue reading
Posted in Black Friday, Christmas, Closure, Consumer Change, Costs, Discounters, Internet, Margins, Retail Economy, Retail Failure, Sales, Stock
Tagged Black Friday, Christmas, Internet, Results, Sales, Stock, Weather
3 Comments
Does Distance Lend Perspective?
As is my need in January, I have been off enjoying some sun and reflection. Having been in the Cape Winelands for the last few weeks, I’m already missing the sun, heat, light … and of course the wine. Having … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Black Friday, Christmas, Food Retailing, Margins, Profits, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Tesco, Wales
Tagged Black Friday, Daffodils, Footfall, Profits, South Africa, Tesco, Wales
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Black and Blue
Some further thoughts on Black Friday, as it has become a disruptive event: The spike in sales was unprecedented, as shown by John Lewis and the figure below (courtesy of @neilretail). This cascaded into problems with store service and then … Continue reading
The Conversation: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Silver Linings
The University of Stirling is a supporter of The Conversation, and I recently had a commentary published there. I reblog it here. ’Tis the season to spend, spend, spend … or so retailers would have us think By Leigh Sparks, … Continue reading