Author: Leigh Sparks
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January 2024 – Roll over of some areas for new year, plus The Economics Observatory piece on Christmas trading (see commentaries tab)
May 2023 – Two new articles and a book chapter noted on the Journal Articles page
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Tag Archives: Cost of Living
How is consumer spending around Christmas 2023 likely to affect retailers?
Retailing has been going through a challenging time in the last three or four years. The restrictions and disruption of Covid have given way to an extreme cost-of-living crisis and an almost apocalyptic sense of uncertainty on a geo-political level. … Continue reading
Posted in Christmas, Consumer Change, Consumers, Cost of Living, Economics Observatory, Energy Costs, ESRC, Government, Inflation, Office for National Statistics, Pricing, Retailers, Retailing, Sales, Uncategorized
Tagged Austerity, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Economic Observatory, ESRC, Inflation, Pricing, Retailers, Retailing, Sales
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The Cost of Employment in Local Convenience Stores
Almost a decade ago, we began working with the Scottish Grocers Federation on understanding the costs of doing business in the convenience sector. One aspect of this work has been the relationship between the headline figure for the National Living … Continue reading
Posted in Convenience stores, Cost of Living, Employment, Independents, Local Retailers, National Living Wage, Scottish Grocers Federation, Uncategorized, University of Stirling, Wages
Tagged Convenience stores, Cost of Living, Employment, National Living Wage, Scottish Grocers Federation, University of Stirling
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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 Brexit, Cheap Food, Cost of Living, Energy prices, European Single market, Food Chains, Media, Quality Food, Rationing, Retailing, Shortages, Tomatoes, Turnips, Weather
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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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Then there were three?
British grocery retailing has for decades been dominated by a small number of large and powerful retailers. That remains the case. Over the period however the number of firms involved has altered. In the 1980s we talked about the “big … Continue reading
Posted in Aldi, Asda, Brands, CMA, Cost of Living, Discounters, Food Retailing, Grocery, Kantar, Lidl, Market Shares, Morrisons, Retail brands, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sainsbury, Tesco
Tagged Aldi, Asda, CMA, Cost of Living, Discounters, Just Essentials, Kantar, Lidl, Market Shares, Morrisons, Retail, Sainsbury, Tesco, UK Grocery market
1 Comment
The Cost-of-living Crisis and its impact on Retailers and their Customers
A few weeks ago, I posted a Q&A session I had done with The Conversation on the cost-of-living crisis. At the time I was working on a longer piece for the Economics Observatory. We wanted to wait for various data … Continue reading
Posted in Brands, Brexit, Consumer Confidence, Consumers, Cost of Living, Costs, Economics Observatory, Inflation, Producers, Product Sizes, Retail brands, Retail Economy, Retailers, Shrinkflation
Tagged Agflation, Brands, Brexit, Cost of Living, Costs, Economics Observatory, Inflation, Producers, Retailers, Shrinkflation
2 Comments
Grocery Market Shares in Great Britain (GB) 1997-2022
It’s July and that can only mean one thing – it is time to update the grocery market share data for Great Britain. Forget global warming and the heatwave and the cost-of-living crisis (not really for either), this is the … Continue reading
Posted in Asda, Brands, Consumers, Cooperative Group, Cost of Living, Covid19, Discounters, Food Retailing, Grocery, Inflation, Kantar, Lidl, Market Shares, Morrisons, Pandemic, Private brands, Private Label, Retail brands, Retail Change, Retailers, Sainsbury, Tesco
Tagged Aldi, Asda, Brands, Co-op, Concentration Ratio, Cost of Living, Discounters, Food retailing, Great Britain, Grocery, Inflation, Kantar, Lidl, manufacturers, Market Shares, Morrisons, Own Brands, Pandemic, Retailer Brands, Sainsbury, Tesco, UK, Waitrose
3 Comments
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
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