The chief executive of the British Retail Consortium has urged retailers to “stay focused on the innovative end and customer deliver” rather than just cut costs in response to the Budget.
Speaking today at LIVE: Retail Week x The Grocer, Helen Dickinson said she was concerned that the retail sector is due “some short-term pain” because of the Budget, but urged retailers to focus on innovation and on customer delivery “rather than cost cutting, because that’s going to be a bit of a bad outcome for everyone”.
Dickinson said that the changes would also “hit hardest the bit of retail that is so important to society” – the local, entry-level jobs and high street stores across the UK.
“My concern is that if you imagine all the businesses that aren’t listed, and don’t have the profile of the people who have been talking about this, all of those decisions that are being taken right across the industry.
“We are going to see some pretty negative short-term consequences because of that pace of those costs coming in, the ability to bridge to a lot of this innovation and changing business models and different operating models – it’s just not going to be possible”.
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