Category Archives: Competition

2020 on the Blog – a reflection

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

Stirlingretail.com began in 2011.  It was born out of a desire to provide a home for common questions about Scottish retailing and a space for me to make comments and cite some evidence and stuff, so as to save me … Continue reading →

Posted in 2020, Armageddon, BRC, Bristol Pound, Competition, Consumer Change, Cooperative Tokens, Cooperatives, Covid19, Food Retailing, Grocery, Historic Shops, Lockdown, Market Shares, Non-Essential Retailing, Places, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Failure, Retail History, Retailers, Retailing, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How is Coronavirus affecting the UK’s Retail Sector?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

A couple of months ago, Professor Graeme Roy of the Fraser of Allander Institute invited me to try to answer the question posed at the head of this post.  He is part of / leading an ESRC funded ‘observatory’ (Coronavirus … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Cities, Competition, Consumer Change, Consumers, Covid19, Essential Retailing, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Lockdown, Non-Essential Retailing, Office for National Statistics, Panic buying, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Sales, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Need for a Digital Tax

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

The origins of this post lie in early March when we were delighted, in what now seems another era, to host Helen Dickenson, the Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, at our Retail Futures event. She spoke on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, BRC, Competition, Covid19, Digital, High Streets, Internet, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, Online Retailing, Places, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Policy, Retail Sales, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Spaces, Tax, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

One of the by-products of our data rich age, is that more data is available ever more frequently.  Our attention spans have collapsed and if we don’t get a weekly, daily or hourly update then we begin to panic.  And … Continue reading →

Posted in Aldi, Asda, CMA, Competition, Competition and Markets Authority, Food, Food Retailing, Grocery, Lidl, Longitudinal Data, Market Shares, Morrisons, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Sainsbury, Tesco, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Efficiency or Idiocy?

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

For some time it has been apparent that Dave Lewis has been determined to address the ‘bloat’ in Tesco and cut back on all sorts of things.  In the big picture out have gone most of the diversifications of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Boots, Competition, Consumer Change, Consumers, Costs, Customer Service, distribution, Food Retailing, Local Retailers, Pharmacy, Plastic Bags, Retailers, Self-checkout, Stirling, Tax, Tesco, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Asda/Sainsbury’s vs the CMA: The verdict

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

If this was a boxing match, then the result was a clear knockout, perhaps to the surprise of some onlookers.  As one of my followers on Twitter noted, it is nice to see a regulator regulating.  In this case, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Asda, CMA, Competition, Competition and Markets Authority, Consumer Choice, Consumers, Convenience stores, Cooperatives, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Lidl, Market Shares, Regulation, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailing, Sainsbury, Supermarket, Uncategorized, Waitrose | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Vacancies and Store Closures

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

Over the last few years, vacancies and store closures have not been out of the news.  Whilst vacancy levels may have dropped off from their peak a few years ago, there is a continuation of stories about the closure rates … Continue reading →

Posted in Closure, Competition, Consumer Change, Government, High Streets, Local Data Company, Places, Public Realm, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Failure, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Shop Numbers, Store Closures, Tax, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Next Ten Years of Grocery Retailing?

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

Given we are less than 10 weeks away from Brexit and the possible end of the grocery world as we know, writing a post about retailing a decade ahead seems foolhardy (spoiler alert; it is).  But bear with me. Let’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Asda, Brexit, Competition, Consumer Change, Customer engagement, Food Retailing, Property, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Sainsbury, Store Closures, Tesco, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Retail Disruptors – the spectacular rise and impact of the hard discounters

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

The rise of the hard discounters is a well-observed phenomenon of continuing research endeavour and commentary.  In the UK, as is well known, Aldi and Lidl have captured considerable market share over the last decade. ‘Retail Disruptors’ by Jan-Benedict Steenkamp … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Aldi, Competition, Consumer Choice, Discounters, Food Retailing, Jack's, Lidl, Market Shares, Pricing, Retail Change, Retailers, Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

HMV – predictable or what?

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Leigh Sparks

125 stores, 2200 direct employees, an unknown number of individuals and businesses also linked to, and supplying, the company;  the administration and likely demise of HMV would be problematic at any time but between Christmas and New Year it has … Continue reading →

Posted in administration, Amazon, Boxing Day, Closure, Competition, Consumer Change, Customer Service, Government, High Streets, HMV, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Rates, Record stores, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Tax, Technology, Timpsons, Town Centres, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment