The Retailer Autumn Edition_2020

UK retail to emerge leaner, greener and even more agile than before Helen Dickinson OBE Chief Executive British Retail Consortium

In this last edition of The Retailer for 2020, I’m going to give a few reflections on the year that’s been. I touched on this, alongside Lisa Hooker from PwC and Mike Coupe, former CEO of Sainsbury’s, during our Annual Retail Industry Lecture last week. If you’d told me 12 months ago that at this year’s Lecture we would be 7 months into a pandemic, with all the effects that it has had and will have on people, the economy, our industry. Of course, I wouldn’t have believed you. What a crazy year it’s been! At the start of the crisis, panic buying and the public’s concern about food supply was front and centre. While that brought its own challenges, that was really only the start. And things hadn’t even really got going. Since then – and as the effects of lockdown started to be felt – we have been working flat out to support our members and wider retail industry, trying to make sense of it all for you. There are businesses that dealt with challenges and are now doing OK, on the whole. And there are businesses – perfectly healthy businesses eight months ago – that are now really struggling – struggling for survival in some cases – because of circumstances that are entirely beyond their control. We’re still very much in the thick of the crisis. So, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions, but is clear it has had a profound effect on our industry. We know the pandemic has seen a dramatic acceleration in the transformation that was already taking place in retail. Retailers have drawn on their competitiveness and resilience to respond brilliantly to the myriad of challenges faced in recent months. They have overhauled their online offerings, engaged with customers in innovative ways and kept the nation supplied with the goods people need. There are reasons to believe in UK retail. It is one of the most competitive sectors in the UK economy. The intense competition between retailers benefits consumers through lower prices, choice and quality – the hallmarks of true competition – and is driving productivity growth across the industry. Investment in new technology – the internet of things, machine learning, automation – has meant that retail productivity has significantly outpaced the rest of the UK economy in recent years. Retail will provide higher skilled, better paid jobs as a result, helping to raise living standards and support the UK’s public services in the process, and ensuring that UK plc remains at the forefront of retail innovation across the world. And as we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, the retail industry is also committed to reducing its environmental impact - in its supply chains and the products people buy every day – to make a huge contribution to the UK’s aims on carbon reduction. The retail industry can emerge from this crisis recast – leaner, greener and even more agile than before. So, as we look toward 2021 and beyond, I just want to say thank you – to all our members and partners – for your resilience, innovation and sheer tenacity over the past 12 months. At the BRC, we will continue to work our absolute hardest - with you and for you – to build a brighter future for uUK retail. If you missed our Annual Lecture last week – would like to see Helen’s full speech, as well as the presentation from PwC and keynote from Mike Coupe – you can watch it on demand. Already registered? Watch on demand Need to register? Click here