Customers continue to do more of their shopping online – a change that accelerated during the Covid-19 lockdown and doesn’t seem to be going away as workers are asked to continue working from home where they can. That’s likely to mean higher demand online this Christmas and lower footfall in shops. In today’s InternetRetailing we report as IMRG’s Andy Mulcahy is warning shoppers to buy early, and as Next’s Lord Wolfson says in-store jobs will become less viable – but points to areas where the retailer is hiring, from its logistics to call centres.
We report as Boohoo takes the step of publishing the new independent review of its supply chain, and sets out how it plans to change in response. Like other retailers, Boohoo is responding to customers’ changing expectations of how the retailers they buy from behave that are this year starting to drive real visible change in the industry.
Mothercare today shows in its full-year results how – and why – it is changing its business model as it transitions away from selling direct to consumers. It’s moved away from its roots on the UK high street and is instead concentrating on its brand and on its franchise model. From this autumn, its products are being sold in the UK through Boots’ stores and website and it has its sights set on expansion into new markets, via franchise partners. It argues that the UK market was ultimately too competitive and too discount-based for its stores to be viable.
We report too as DFS shows that its business is recovering from Covid-19 lockdown, as Holland & Barrett shows how its shoppers can now buy from the queue, assisted by Mercaux technology, and as Pets at Home says its seeing a new normal in the way that shoppers now buy, post-Covid.
And in today’s guest comment, Ivan Mazour of Ometria considers how customer experience must now continue to change after Covid.
