In today’s Internet Retailing newsletter we detect evidence that a two-tier retail market is starting to open up in the UK. On the top tier are those that are ‘doing’ omnichannel. On the bottom, those that are not. These are the new haves and have-nots of New Retail. Property investment company Land Securities sums this up in its half-yearly statement today, describing the polarisation of the retail market into those ‘retailers who are strong and have invested in omnichannel and those that have not’.
That omnichannel effect is also nicely illustrated in two other stories that we report today, on New Look’s move back into profit, helped by growing ecommerce sales and refurbished stores, and the move by both Barratts and Blockbuster into administration, driven, agree some of the commentators we quote today, by their failure to keep up with the changing retail environment.
Today we also report on how retail spending went online in October, according to Barclaycard, on how property investor Hammerson is adapting to multichannel, and in our Christmas update we report Peer1’s findings that more would shop on ‘better’ websites, and Royal Mail’s move to introduce free text and email updates for contract users of its tracked parcel deliveries, something it says will help online retailers compete this Christmas. Read on for news of two job opportunities at Internet Retailing, for access to our conference videos, and news of our Expo next March.
If you missed a presentation that you’d like to catch up on at Internet Retailing Conference 2013, you can do so now through the post-event website. Visitors to www.internetretailingconference.com can access all the presentations that we’ve been given permission to share with our audiences.
We have two positions that have opened up at InternetRetailing, a graduate researcher and a sales executive. Find out more by clicking on the links.
Our events
We’re now gearing up for Internet Retailing Expo 2014 (IRX 2014) in Birmingham. The event will be held on March 26 and 27 at the NEC in Birmingham, where there’ll be an array of conference streams, workshops and a wide range of exhibitors showing off the latest cutting edge technologies. Watch the Internet Retailing website for the latest news on speakers and exhibitors, but registrations are already open on the IRX 2014 website.
