All Opinion articles – Page 32
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OpinionAddressing the lack of Black talent in the Tech 100 index – and how to fix it
The fact that RWRC’s Tech 100 doesn’t contain a single black person is disappointing, and in some ways, surprising. The retail industry is operating in an incredibly difficult and unforgiving environment, and companies need the best technologists to help them address multiple threats.
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Opinion‘After its most defining year ever, retail will emerge stronger in 2021’
A retail chief executive put a question to me earlier this week during a (these days somewhat rare) face-to-face meeting: “How would you sum up this year for retail in one word?”
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Opinion‘This rapid change is not destroying retail but reshaping it’
At a time of mass redundancies on the high street it is only right to be sanguine about the prospects for the job market in 2021.
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OpinionPeter Williams: ‘The job losses are awful, but fashion needs a cull’
I joined the retail industry rather a long time ago – in 1987 to be precise, at Freemans, the traditional mailorder business that produced a 1,000-page catalogue twice a year.
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OpinionRoger Wade: ‘We need to level the playing field between online and high street’
Last week brought the end of shopping restrictions as retail returned across the UK. Sadly, the second lockdown did more damage than we ever expected as high street retailers suffered a double blow of not only the pandemic, but online competition.
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Opinion‘Essential retailers may have shot sector in foot with rates relief repayments’
In the space of a few days, a wave of essential retailers has voluntarily returned the best part of £2bn in business rates relief to the government. In doing so they have won the public relations battle, but have they lost the long-term rates reform war?
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OpinionMove of the Week: Williams tasked with maintaining eBay momentum
In a desperate week for high street retailers, Eve Williams’ move from Asos to eBay serves as a reminder of how the balance of power has shifted in the industry.
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Opinion‘Arcadia tycoon Green – from retail’s King Midas to King Canute’
Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green’s fall from grace has been so spectacular and so total that it’s hard to remember what a force he once was.
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Opinion‘Covid may bring chance to rebuild high street experience for a new age’
We’re now in the middle of what would traditionally be the busiest period in the retail calendar and for the probably for the first time ever in the peak season, most shops were shuttered for four weeks.
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Opinion‘Black Friday exposes a divide retailers can’t afford to be on wrong side of’
Shopify president Harley Finkelstein described retail as a tale of two worlds when he spoke to us last week – the “resistant” and the “resilient”.
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OpinionSocial Mobility Commission: ‘Retail can stop people getting left behind’
Those from less privileged backgrounds are in real danger of being left behind – but retail can help change that, writes Alexandra Sufit, head of employer communications at the Social Mobility Commission.
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Opinion‘Tiers and fears may disrupt but won’t derail retail recovery’
Much of the country will emerge from lockdown this week facing more restrictions than when it began in November. However, as a new year approaches, retailers can afford to look forward with some optimism after a year of turmoil.
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OpinionHomebase CEO Damian McGloughlin: ‘Experience is the key to relevance’
Homebase boss Damian McGloughlin explains why retailers need to work extra hard to ensure shops are inspirational as online sales soar.
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OpinionMove of the Week: Steve Carson swaps supplements for sofas at ScS
It takes a brave person to trade selling health and wellness products for big-ticket furniture items on the cusp of the deepest economic downturn in 300 years. Fortunately, Steve Carson has never been afraid of a challenge.
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Opinion‘The clock is ticking on Boohoo’s agenda for change’
Boohoo has been embroiled in scandal this year and has set out an “agenda for change” that will supposedly turn things around – but what will it really take for the business to undo years of ignorance?
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OpinionMove of the Week: BBC’s Matt Grest is a Very good fit
Matt Grest’s move from the BBC to The Very Group demonstrates once again that previous retail experience is not a prerequisite for senior leaders so long as you have the correct skillset.
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OpinionSuzy Ross: ‘Why the market is more forgiving of Farfetch’s losses than those of M&S’
Just a few months before Marks & Spencer reported its first loss as a public company, Farfetch disclosed a quarterly loss of a much greater magnitude than M&S’ £88m.
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Opinion‘Don’t even try to compete with Amazon this Black Friday’
It’s been a year fraught with difficulties and challenges almost from the outset, and now another huge test is looming for retailers.
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OpinionFran Minogue: Retail leadership lessons for our stop-go times
There was a horrible novelty to the first lockdown. We’d never been there before and the first priority was colleague safety and then to focus on keeping operations going.
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OpinionJulian Richer: ‘Questioning Sunak’s rates decision is not selling out retail’
Following Retail Week’s recent article about retailers squabbling like “cats in a bag”, I felt the need to write after some comments I made at the recent Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference may have been misunderstood.