Tag Archives: Inflation

“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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a 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 , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Predicting the Post-Covid Retail Landscape: presentation for Scottish Grocers Federation Cross Party Group

Later on today (from 1815 on the 16th March to be exact) I will be presenting virtually at the latest Scottish Grocers Federation organised Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Local Convenience Stores. I will be speaking, together with David … Continue reading

Posted in Amsterdam, Consumer Change, Consumers, Convenience, Convenience stores, Covid19, Dark Stores, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retailing, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Covid Variants, Retailing and this Christmas

A couple of weeks ago, I pondered putting together something again about the Christmas 2021 retail season.  Whilst there were strains over supply and labour availability, retailing seemed set for something much more normal. At about the same time, the … Continue reading

Posted in Boxing Day, Brexit, Christmas, Cities, Consumers, Covid19, Government, Inflation, Internet shopping, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Pandemic, Retailers, Supply Chains, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brexit isn’t Delivering

Neil Saunders provides a valuable service by culling newspapers on a daily basis for retail stories and putting them up on his twitter feed. This saves time for me and also provides a good snapshot of retail sentiment (He does … Continue reading

Posted in Availability, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Covid19, distribution, Employment, European Union, Frictionless, Government, Logistics, Next, Panic buying, Referendum, Retailers, Supply Chains, Wages, Warehouses | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Changing Times – the ONS Inflation Basket

As I write this entry, I am about to make a presentation at a business conference on the changing nature of retailing and the future of the high street. There are a number of themes I aim to pursue but … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Consumer Change, Data | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment