Opinion – Page 50
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OpinionMove of the Week: New Ikea boss joins a transforming retailer
It’s unusual for Ikea to hire a senior executive from outside the business. Not that you can truly count Peter Jelkeby as an outsider.
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OpinionAre Laura Ashley and French Connection due a revival?
Urban Outfitters’ collaborations with Laura Ashley and French Connection have filled the fashion pages of the broadsheets and glossy mags alike.
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OpinionOpinion: Arcadia's woes are reminder of need to stay relevant
Fashion giant Arcadia’s struggle to secure its future is another reminder that in today’s hard-fought environment, retailers must battle more than ever to remain relevant.
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OpinionOpinion: Nine reasons why you are not really a digital retailer
In all the retail digital transformations I’ve been involved in over the past two decades, a simple truth has emerged.
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OpinionMove of the Week: Weston strikes balance between business and activism
It feels particularly appropriate that Alannah Weston has become chair of one of the UK’s most well-known retail brands in a week when MPs have taken the radical step of declaring a climate emergency.
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OpinionOpinion: From lacklustre loyalty to mesmerising membership
Loyalty programmes have had a bad press of late. More and more customers have come to see them as uneven exchanges of information.
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OpinionOpinion: How can retailers make the most of venture capital?
Not content with just engaging with startups, many leading corporates are now experimenting with financial investments well outside the day job.
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OpinionOpinion: Consumers want the human touch, not touchscreens
If you’ve been watching TV of late, you’ll likely have seen the Microsoft AI advert where an actor makes ambitious claims about “ay-aah”.
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OpinionOpinion: Will CVA rent reductions cut retailers' business rates?
2018 was dubbed the year of the CVA, allowing firms battling the structural changes taking place across Britain’s embattled high streets to not only close unprofitable stores hit by increasing cost pressures but to also seek rent reductions, often between 20% and 75%.
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OpinionOpinion: CMA is wrong to kibosh Sainsbury's-Asda deal
It is not the job of the CMA to throw a protective arm around moribund businesses unable to adapt to changing competitive conditions.
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OpinionOpinion: Sainsbury's results could be final act for Coupe and Co
It seems bizarre to even consider describing the full-year results of one of Britain’s largest retailers as a sideshow.
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OpinionOpinion: How to fix retail's recruitment problem
Just as the nature of retail is changing and transforming at an ever-quickening pace, so are the multitude of jobs that make up the industry.
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OpinionOpinion: Bigger margins are not always better
UK retailing is now entrenched in a trend of declining profitability, though many – particularly the investment and landlord communities – remain in denial.
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OpinionOpinion: If Bezos sees bricks and mortar opportunity, so should other retailers
Well-known retail names are shrinking their store estates as fast as you can say CVA.
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OpinionOpinion: Grocers are making real progress in the war on plastic
It can often be difficult, for a cynic such as myself, to differentiate between an outbreak of opportunistic bandwagon jumping and a genuine sea change in corporate behaviour.
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OpinionOpinion: These smaller retailers are the industry's real winners
The retail sector is undergoing an important shift in its evolution, with consumer choice never stronger thanks to a wave of small and nimble operators disrupting established players.
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OpinionMove of the Week: Turning the Page at Ted Baker
The news that Ted Baker has resisted bringing in an outsider to replace Ray Kelvin as chief executive will, I’m sure, be met with surprise in many quarters.
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OpinionClive Black: Tesco and Lewis deserve a pat on the back
Tesco has issued a set of preliminary results that underscore its recovery and set the expectation for brighter times ahead.
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OpinionOpinion: JD Sports has plenty of track left to run
JD Sports holds the unique position of being both Sports Direct’s biggest rival and, in many ways, its polar opposite.
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OpinionDebenhams needs renewed purpose post-administration
The redundancy of Debenhams’ once-vaunted claim to be ‘Britain’s favourite department store’ was sadly laid bare as it fell into a pre-pack administration today.