Category Archives: Internet

Business Rates: an election issue (not)

Posted on May 22, 2017 by

This blog has covered the issue of rates on a number of occasions (e.g. rates relief, a levy, some rates and the Grimsey report, the poll tax and business rates) never fully satisfactory, and indeed, re-reading the pieces, with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Closure, Governance, Government, High Streets, Internet, Internet shopping, Large Store Levy, Mary Portas, Online Retailing, Places, Politicians, Public Health lev, Rates, Regulation, Retail Policy, Retailers, Store Closures, Tax, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centres | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Navigating The New Retail Landscape

Posted on August 8, 2016 by

Readers of this blog will be aware of the occasional use of guest bloggers and of book reviews.  A couple of weeks ago my colleague Steve Burt showed me a new retail book he had bought, authored by two contemporaries … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Books, Consumer Change, Consumers, Customer engagement, International Retailing, Internet, Multichannel, Retail Change, Retail leadership, Retailers, Strategy, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Uncertainty: Brexit and Retailing

Posted on June 28, 2016 by

This is quite a long post, so apologies. About 10 days before the EU Referendum I wrote an invited article for the Scotsman on the issues for retailing. It was intended as one of a series on different sectors. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Brexit, Buying, Consumers, Costs, European Union, Government, International Retailing, Internet, Online Retailing, Referendum, Regulation, Retailers, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Perfect Storm?

Posted on January 4, 2016 by

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 , , , , , , | 3 Comments

No (digital) place like home?

Posted on August 20, 2015 by

Over the last few years I have had several very interesting conversations with Simon Baldwin about the role of digital and social media in the development and maintenance of places, towns and BIDs. In response to my last post on … Continue reading →

Posted in Communications, Digital, Home, Internet, Places, Scotland, Social media, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Conversation: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Silver Linings

Posted on December 3, 2014 by

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 →

Posted in Black Friday, Christmas, Consumer Change, Cyber Monday, Festivals, Internet, Internet shopping, Localisation, Online Retailing, Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sting in the Tale of Internet Shopping

Posted on August 21, 2014 by

The week before last, STV news featured a (very brief) clip of me discussing the rise of internet shopping. This had been prompted by the news that it was 20 years since the first commercial internet shopping purchase. I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Click and Collect, Consumer Change, Design, Internet, Internet shopping, Multichannel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment