Tag Archives: Retail Sales

Retail Sales in Great Britain, January 2021

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

A couple of weeks ago, the Office for National Statistics produced the monthly retail sales figures for Great Britain for January 2021.  This is the first full month of data since lockdown was reintroduced before and around Christmas. The press … Continue reading →

Posted in Christmas, Click and Collect, Clothing, Consumer Change, Convenience stores, Covid19, Essential Retailing, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Localisation, Lockdown, Non-Essential Retailing, Non-food retailing, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Supermarket, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

COVID-19 and Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

About six or so weeks ago I completed a piece for the Economics Observatory (@EconObservatory) on the impact of Coronavirus on the UK’s retail sector. You can find my short intro to it on this blog and the full piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, Boxing Day, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Covid19, distribution, Employees, European Union, Food Banks, Frictionless, Government, Home Delivery, IKEA, Independents, Internet shopping, Just in Time, Local Retailers, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Panic buying, Regulation, Retail Economy, Retailers, Stirling, Stock, Supply Chains, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How is Coronavirus affecting the UK’s Retail Sector?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

A couple of months ago, Professor Graeme Roy of the Fraser of Allander Institute invited me to try to answer the question posed at the head of this post.  He is part of / leading an ESRC funded ‘observatory’ (Coronavirus … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Cities, Competition, Consumer Change, Consumers, Covid19, Essential Retailing, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Lockdown, Non-Essential Retailing, Office for National Statistics, Panic buying, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Sales, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Great Expectations

Posted on October 26, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

I was not intending to add to my previous two posts on data and reporting (footfall and store openings and closures), but then I saw the coverage (looking at you again in the first instance BBC) of last week’s Scottish … Continue reading →

Posted in BRC, Consumer Change, Consumers, Data, Food Retailing, Non-food retailing, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Retail sales surge close to pre-lockdown levels”

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

The retail headlines last week were interesting. Based on the latest Office for National Statistics retail sales data (for June 2020), the media packaged up a story about how UK retail sales had surged to pre-lockdown levels and were close … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Change, Covid19, Data, Food Standards, Home Delivery, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Sales, Shopping, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scottish and Online Retail Sales in Lockdown

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

I am catching up on some of the recently published data about retail sales. This short post has graphs from two sources (a) the Scottish Retail Sales Monitor, published by the Scottish Retail Consortium and (b) Internet sales as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Friday, Consumer Change, Consumers, Covid19, Data, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retailing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Shopping with Confidence?

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

Three months on and the great unlocking has begun in earnest.  No more testing your eyesight, it’s now about testing your bank balance – in Northern Ireland and England to begin with, Wales today and then Scotland.  “Non-essential” stores are … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Lockdown, Non-food retailing, Rents, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tracking the Impact of Lockdown on Retailers

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

The impact of COVID-19 has hit retailers in different ways. We are now beginning to see the official figures and some retailers have provided updates. As anticipated in a previous post, the April sales figures for Scotland showed a massive … Continue reading →

Posted in B&Q, Click and Collect, Consumers, Contactless, Covid19, Employment practices, Food, Home Delivery, Internet, Internet shopping, Kingfisher, Lockdown, Multichannel, Next, Online Retailing, Poland, Regulation, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sainsbury, Screwfix, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Retailing, Shopping and Covid-19

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

Over the last couple of months I have produced on this blog a range of pieces around retailing, shopping and the coronavirus pandemic.  There will no doubt be more to be said as the situation develops. One of these pieces … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Consumer Change, Consumers, Covid19, Employment, Employment practices, Government, High Streets, Independents, Institute for Retail Studies, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Multichannel, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Places, Public Policy, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Shopping, Social Inequality, Tax, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Scottish Retail Sales: seeing the impact of Lockdown

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

Earlier today (22nd April) the March figures from the Scottish Retail Sales Monitor (managed by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG) were published. They were as bad as everyone expected, and the commentary in the media showed due concern (for … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, BRC, Closure, Community, Consumer Change, Consumers, Convenience stores, Covid19, Food, Food Retailing, Grocery, High Streets, Independents, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Market Shares, Non-food retailing, Panic buying, Places, Rents, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retailing, Shopping, Social Inequality, Supply Chains, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment