In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re reporting on the continued effects of Covid-19. Today we report as a new ChannelAdvisor study suggests that most shoppers will prefer to steer clear of the high street and shop online as stores emerge in their new Covid-secure guide from the lockdown.
That has far-reaching implications for the way retail is currently organised. As yet, says Land Securities, visitor numbers to its shopping centres and retail parks locations are still only at 60% of the numbers it saw at this time last year – two weeks on from the reopening of non-essential store. There’s some cheers in its update as it suggests that shoppers are spending more than they did last year, per transaction. Overall, though spending is still only at 80% of last year – and most of its retail tenants had not yet paid their rent five days after quarter day. Primark says, showing the other side of this conundrum, that its sales are getting back to normal, but it is still counting the cost of store lockdowns on its business. That’s expected to have a huge impact on profitability.
Meanwhile, in today’s guest comment, Marc Uible of Threekit considers how retailers might use augmented reality to help shoppers do some of they do in stores online instead.
It’s into this context that RetailX launches, in association with Rakuten Advertising and Ingenico ePayments, its first European Growth 3000 report, which focuses on Europe’s up-and-coming retailers. The report builds and expands on the research first carried out for the RXEU Top500 report, and focuses on the drivers of growth that help the companies that follow on from that Top500 to grow.
At the heart of Covid are the overwhelming health concerns. Today we report on how Boohoo has defended itself against a report that links its supply chain with high levels of Covid-19 in Leicester.
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