Welcome to the Top500 IREU for 2018, which assesses the performance of European retailers after what has been an eventful 12 months. It’s been a year of significant and continuous improvement among existing and new members of the index, and this has reshaped the retail landscape. The effect of that continuous improvement is now so marked that there are retailers that have fallen out of the Elite level of this ranking that are performing more strongly than when they achieved that ranking last year. They’re being replaced by businesses operating at a new level of excellence. No doubt that change will continue next year as retailers and brands across Europe continue to raise their games.
This year we’ve noted that direct-to-consumer brands are playing a larger part in the index as they move at scale to adopt the multichannel techniques that have worked well for retailers that were previously the primary sellers of their goods. This change is likely to be felt painfully by general merchants that previously led the way in using digital to sell goods. Now brands are taking those proven techniques that have worked well for the traders that developed and honed them, and using them to meet demand from customers who are now eager to buy direct as well as through retailers.
Our research will continue to deepen over the coming year as we expand our scope to take in more countries.
“It’s been a year of significant and continuous improvement among existing and new members of the index”
From the autumn we’ll have a newsletter dedicated to European retail, that will focus on how Elite, Leading retailers, and other members of the IREU Top500, are developing their performance and multichannel strategies. We established our RetailCraft network in 2017 as a community of performance-focused retailers, meeting through roundtables, events and research sessions. In 2018, we hope to welcome more members of the IREU Top500 to our events. Do get in touch if you’re a retailer that would like to take part.
We’re also always keen to involve suppliers that have data sets and expert insights that can help in our analysis of retail performance across the EEA plus Switzerland. Get in touch with us too if you’d like to be considered as an InternetRetailing Knowledge Partner.
