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
- London's Welsh Dairies: The Welsh Milk Trade
- Transformative Food Retailing, Data and Consumers
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Waaaagaaamaaamaaa - Tesco and Booker spring a surpise (perhaps)
- Pontypool vs Penarth: Rugby and The High Street and Town of 1951
- Time Out in Lisbon: Part One
- Ghost Signs and Retailing
- Public Health, Taxation and Food Retailing
- Returning Home
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Tag Archives: Consumers
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 Consumer Behaviour, Consumers, Data, Food retailing, Government, Health, Retailers, Sustainability, Transformative
1 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
Strange Things in Self-Service
My twitter timeline has been populated recently by photos of retailers doing, for me, some strange things with self-service tills. These tills have popped up everywhere over the last decade and not always to universal acclaim. B&Q and WH Smith … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Clothing, Consumers, Customer Service, Employment practices, Experiential, Functional Retailing, Marks and Spencer, Retail Change, Sainsbury, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Uncategorized
Tagged Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Clothing, Consumers, Costs, Customer service, Marks and Spencer, Retail, Retail Employment, Sainsbury, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, technology
2 Comments
The Conversation: UK Retailers Christmas Trading Updates
The University of Stirling is a supporter of The Conversation and I published a piece there on the 12th January about the recent UK retailer trading updates from Christmas. I reblog it below. The starting point for the piece was … Continue reading
Posted in Aldi, Christmas, City Centres, Consumer Change, Consumers, Cost of Living, Covid19, Discounters, Grocery, High Streets, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Market Shares, Marks and Spencer, Next, Retailers, Retailing, The Conversation, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged B&M, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Covid, Credit, Discounters, Health and wellbeing, High Streets, Local, Next, Online, Retailing, Shoppers, spending, The Conversation, towns, Trading Updates, Value
1 Comment
“Christmas and the Cost-of-Living Crisis: How will retailers cope?”
The past two year’s holiday seasons were tough for the UK’s retail sector, with lockdowns and resulting changes in consumer behaviour. I covered the previous Christmas periods in two pieces for the Economics Observatory (2020 and 2021) and followed this … Continue reading
Posted in Aldi, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Costs, Discounters, Economics Observatory, Energy Costs, ESRC, Food, Food Retailing, Inflation, Lidl, Market Shares, Places, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping, Towns
Tagged Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Discounters, Economics Observatory, Energy Costs, Food, Inflation, interest rates, Market Shares, Retailers, Retailing
1 Comment
The (Retail) Reality of our Current Predicament
Whatever political leanings one has, the last ten days or so have hopefully provided a nadir in political (mis-)management of the economy and society. The crashing of the pound, the almost demise of the pension market, a screeching u-turn on … Continue reading
Posted in Consumers, Cost of Living, Costs, Economics Observatory, Employment, Government, Inflation, Pricing
Tagged Consumers, Cost of Living, Costs, Crisis, Economy, Employment, Energy, Government, Inflation, Prices, Retail, Special Fiscal event, spending
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Shopping: the cost of living crisis – Q&A with The Conversation
In between graduation ceremonies last Friday (as we caught up with the pandemic impacted ceremonies of 2020 and 2021), I was interviewed by Steven Vass of The Conversation about the cost of living crisis and Shopping. The result is a … Continue reading
Posted in Consumer Confidence, Consumers, Cost of Living, Discounters, Food, Food Banks, Food Retailing, Inflation, Local Retailers, Office for National Statistics, Pricing, Retail Sales, Retailers, Shopping, The Conversation
Tagged Budgets, Consumer Confidence, Consumers, Cost of Living, Food, Inflation, Retail Sales, Retailing, The Conversation
5 Comments
“Soaring Vacancies” : perhaps or perhaps not?
The end of last week saw headlines about the number of vacant shops in Scotland. Typical Scottish newspaper examples included: The Herald The Scotsman So, something of a downer to end the first week out of lockdown in Scotland and … Continue reading
Posted in BRC, Consumers, Covid19, Data, Independents, Local Data Company, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Places, Rates, Rents, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retailing, Shop Numbers, Shopping, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Vacancies
Tagged British Retail Consortium, Consumer Confidence, Consumers, Covid-19, Data, independents, Local Data Company, Lockdown, Pandemic, Retailing, Scotland, Shops, Vacancies
1 Comment
The Great Re-Awakening?
One week on from the first major easing of retail (and other) restrictions from the ‘Christmas’ lockdown in Scotland and everyone is wondering how it has been and how it is going? For some the sight of people queuing at … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Consumers, Covid19, Lockdown, Pandemic, Primark, Queuing, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scottish Retail Sales, Shopping, Uncategorized
Tagged Consumers, Covid-19, Lockdown, Primark, Queues, Retail Sales, Retailers, Scotland, Shopping
4 Comments
Aberdeen, No More?
The Covid pandemic has hit retailing hard. Government support (though important) has in no way matched the lost sales and business. Previous trends have been accelerated, most notably in terms of online sales. Retailers of all shapes and sizes have … Continue reading
Posted in 1960s, Aberdeen, Architecture, Bids Scotland, Buildings, City Centres, Closure, Consumers, Cooperatives, Covid19, Department Stores, Internet shopping, John Lewis Partnership, Lockdown, Norco, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Rates, Regulation, Rents, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping, Social value, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Waitrose
Tagged Aberdeen, Architecture, Brutalism, Business Improvement Districts, City Centres, Consumers, Covid-19, Department Stores, John Lewis, John Lewis Partnership, Norco, Online sales, Retail costs, Retailing, Scotland's Towns, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group
2 Comments
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