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EDITORIAL Leading IRUK Top500 retailers are becoming casualties as the way consumers shop changes

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In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re reporting as retailers generally – and department stores more specifically – are seeing a record share of their business take place on the internet.

Department store owners are feeling the pain, which must make it all the more frustrating that House of Fraser’s website is now offline and outstanding online orders are cancelled a week after the retailer was taken over by Sports Direct. At the same time, we’re reporting on Homebase’s plans to close 42 stores as part of its CVA. We take a look at how the DIY retailer arrived at its current situation. Each retailer is grappling with changing customer behaviour as shoppers make more of their purchases online. 

Today we also cover the problems that IKEA has had with its website, following a website outage that has stretched into its second week – and consider how other retailers can avoid similar issues. This is, of course, ever more important as retailers see more of their business move online. 

Today’s guest comment comes from Will Lovatt of Llamasoft who considers the last mile and supply chain demands in the retail industry.

This week’s focus on the mobile and crosschannel InternetRetailing dimension continues with four highly practical approaches to mobile retailing, the importance of meeting customer expectations and insights into designing the digital store.

Next week our summer focus on the IRUK Top500 dimensions will continue with Operations & Logistics, followed by Strategy & Innovation the week after.

RetailCraft podcast

Find out more about the first two episodes of InternetRetailing’s RetailCraft podcasts featuring Heals and the Rug Company.

RetailCraft 01 – David Kohn of Heals – “probably the most sceptical man in the industry”. Surely not!

RetailCraft 02 – Sarah Stagg of The Rug Company and the 2018 IREU Top500

Webinars

Find out more about upcoming InternetRetailing webinars and register for free on the InternetRetailing webinar page. You can also catch up with past webinars on the page.

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