Category Archives: Consumers

Public Health, Taxation and Food Retailing

Following hard on the heels of our recent publication on transformative food retailing, my commentary on a recent paper on the taxation of soft drinks has just been published. This was an invited commentary, though peer reviewed, and is published … Continue reading

Posted in Consumers, Food Retailing, Government, Health, Pricing, Producers, Public Health, Retailing, Soft Drinks Industry Levy, Sugar Tax, Tax | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Transformative Food Retailing, Data and Consumers

The knowledge that retailers and especially food retailers have around their customers and their behaviours has been a topic of interest and concern for decades. The small independent corner shop of old and the localism of buying are historical illustrations … Continue reading

Posted in Behavioural Economics, Consumer Change, Consumers, Customisation, Data, Food Retailing, Health, Loyalty Schemes, Personal, Personalisation, Public Health, Public Policy, Sustainability, Transformative Food Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Urban Logistics and Retailing

At the start of May, the details of the Routledge Handbook of Urban Logistics was published. The Handbook itself will be available for pre-order from early June with formal publication on June 23, 2023. I was happy to contribute a … Continue reading

Posted in Books, City Centres, Congestion, Consumers, LEZ, Logistics, LTN, Relationships, Retailers, Retailing, Spatial Planning, Suppliers, Supply Chains, Sustainability, Town Centres, Towns, Urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ground Down

Last February I wrote about the state of customer service and specifically the failure of KRUPS to honour their manufacturer warranty.  A further two months have now passed and last week I finally got a replacement coffee grinder, but not … Continue reading

Posted in Consumers, Currys, Customer engagement, Customer Service, Legislation, Retailers, Sale of Goods Act, Warranties | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Towns and Resilience: A Totally Locally Follow-Up

On the 20th April I presented at the Institute of Place Management Annual Conference in Manchester.  It was an interesting and enjoyable event; details of what I said can be found in an earlier post on this blog. There was … Continue reading

Posted in "We" towns, Campaigns, Community, Consumers, High Streets, Incredible Edible, Independents, Local Multiplier, Local Retailers, Places, Retailing, Rugby League, Small Towns, Totally Locally, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let them eat Turnips

Therese Coffey’s comments were crass, ill-informed, tin-eared and risible in many regards but did at least shine a light on aspects of our food supply chains.  And in one small sense she has an unpalatable point; we’ve got used to … Continue reading

Posted in Agflation, Brexit, Consumers, distribution, European Retailers, European Union, Food, Food Quality, Food Retailing, Greenhouse, Pricing, Rationing, Retailers, Seasonality, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Vegatables | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walking the Talk: Town Centres and Retailing in a Car-dominated Economy

Today (March 7th), I am presenting at a Living Streets Seminar.  I was asked to talk about retailing in car-dominated places and what follows is a summary of sorts (and the overheads) of my presentation. In responses to the climate … Continue reading

Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Active travel, Car Dependency, Car Parking, Car Use Reduction, Community, community wealth building, Consumers, Just Transition, Local Retailers, Neighbourhood, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Places, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Retailing, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Town Centres | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Independent Thinking – interview with Alexandra Forrest

In late last October I presented at a session here at the University of Stirling on Retailing, towns and healthy ageing. After my presentation I got into conversation with one of the audience members, Alexandra Forrest, as she had been … Continue reading

Posted in Community, Consumers, Creative Places, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Ageing, Independents, Places, Retail Planning, Retailers, Retailing, Small Shops, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK

I recently (21st February) published a piece on The Conversation about internet retailing in the UK and in particular the trends in the percentage of internet sales as a proportion of all retail sales. The original can be found here. … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon, City Centres, Consumer Change, Consumers, Costs, e-commerce, Internet, Internet shopping, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Retail Sales, Retailers, Shopping, The Conversation, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Coffee KRUPS

In the middle of 2021, I bought a coffee grinder.  I looked around, read the reviews, and ended up getting a KRUPS burr grinder (cost c£35).  So far, so good.  Just after Christmas 2022, the grinder stopped working.  Dead, nothing, … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon, Brexit, Consumers, Customer Service, KRUPS, Service Quality, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments