In my opinion, retail industry executives and experts give Retail Times readers their views, insights, and analysis on the latest retail trends.
In recent years there has been a growing trend towards ‘conscious consumerism’ and a call for brands to act in more inclusive and ethical ways. We only need to visit social media to see that this has accelerated in 2020.
Segmenting the market is a tried and tested approach for marketers to help them understand the different types of consumers that they want to reach and to develop approaches that suit each. However, in the current environment, retailers need a
If the decline of physical retail was a hot topic before Covid-19, what are we to make of the headlines now? For every story of resilience and optimism, there are countless more of closures, redundancies and disappearing brands. Retail’s transformation
Black Friday is without a doubt one of the biggest dates in the retail calendar, and this year will be no exception. As the industry continues to try and react and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020’s Black Friday weekend
The e-commerce industry has been growing year on year, but the Covid19 pandemic has accelerated this growth as consumers were forced to take their shopping online. As the country went into lockdown back in March, consumer habits shifted dramatically, with
If COVID-19 has taught us one thing it’s that, on the whole, we Brits love home delivery. On-demand goods delivered within hours of a click have been a lifeline for many in lockdown. Companies are working harder than ever to
Do you want your customers to be rewarded after completing a level in any game that they have downloaded on their phones? Do you want them to grab great offers and discounts from playing games? If the answer is 'yes',
Even if the UK finally leaves the European Union on 31 October, the bad news is, that isn’t the end. In fact, it’s just the beginning of a whole set of changes in trade and other processes that may occur
In the turbulent and ever-changing retail sector, there is one thing which is certain. Playing the same game you always have is going to get you nowhere. In an increasingly data-driven world, the champions of retail in the future will
As retail moves away from transaction-focused retail to service-oriented in-store offerings, many retailers are implementing initiatives to improve their in-store customer experience.
By Chris Johnston, CEO of emotion analytics firm, Adoreboard If you’re reading this, then you’re clearly already more than aware of the potential of the millennial audience and spend much of your working life trying to find ways of courting them...
High street stores are having a tough time at the moment. Under pressure from on-line retailers, stores are almost permanently discounting prices, and at the same time closing or downscaling operations. This seems to be the new normal, and the high street
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect May 25, 2018, and companies around the globe are scrambling to prepare. While much attention has already been paid to understanding the GDPR’s impact on collecting customer data, retailers must also remember
Given the myriad difficulties high street retailers face right now, the fact that they will be the hardest-hit by the new IFRS 16 accounting rules seems a particularly bitter pill for them to have to swallow. Essentially these rules, which
Amazon is disrupting the parts of retail no one likes. Standing in queues in the supermarket with your jumbo pack of toilet paper and baked beans. New batteries, or cheap bits and bobs you would otherwise buy from pound shops.
VoiceSage’s Gregg Kilkenny says making outbound voice messaging should be a key component in all customer service outreach
Ian Tomlinson, founder of RetailStore, gives his predications of what will be hot trends for retailers in 2018
The sales have started and as unsold stock piles high in backrooms across the UK, cloud EPoS innovator Ian Tomlinson of RetailStore argues that there is a simple solution to the mass problem of dead stock
November 23rd 2012 - the day that Black Friday became a seminal date on the UK retail calendar. In five years this US exported phenomenon has altered the mindset and spending of the consumer, and the focus and marketing strategy
By André Hordagoda, co-founder, GoInStore Over the last five to 10 years we’ve all witnessed the changing face of the retail store. The early signs were evident; Abercrombie and Fitch, with their dimly lit and beautifully curated ‘theatres’, staffed by model-esque
VoiceSage’s Lee Trenam discusses why naive AI hype will hamper the reception of this useful technology
What is PPC? Pay-Per-Click advertising is a form of online advertising in which you pay a certain fee each time someone clicks on one of your ads. In simple terms, if you create ad copy that contains the word “summer
A new experiential retail approach, dubbed Retailtainment, is now an essential requirement, argues Ian Tomlinson, CEO RetailStore
Within the four walls of most major retailers, customer feedback is predominantly categorised as ‘complaints’. As customers, we sometimes fall into the same trap in our own communications, because it is the vernacular used. But it isn’t only complaints. It is feedback, which includes the
Last year Amazon launched its first bricks and mortar store in Seattle. Earlier this year, the e-tailer was reportedly looking to set up its first Amazon Go convenience store in London. With in-store sensors linking to shoppers’ mobile apps, customers’
