Paul Skeldon

China has been in the news a lot in the past two weeks and is currently experiencing something of a lockdown in the grip of Coronavirus. Right in the middle of Chinese New Year. It’s like closing down the public transport system across London and Birmingham on Christmas Eve. But China is in the news for another reason: retail.

LVMH, the parent company of global luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany, is looking to grow its omni-channel business by focussing on agile order management

Orlebar Brown, a British brand specialising in tailored men’s swim shorts, is diving into offering customers a unique and seamless user experience, allowing the brand to stay ahead in the competitive retail industry by optimising trade

We won’t dwell on 2019: that is literally last year’s news. It was bad. We move on. The question facing the retail industry is how?

According to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), 2019 is the 16th consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline in the retail workforce – proof that the transformation in the retail industry is ongoing