Retail in Focus - the Retail Systems podcast

Retail has undergone a fundamental shift. The transaction - once the centrepiece of the customer experience - is now just one moment within a much longer, richer journey. Today's most competitive retailers understand that what happens before, during, and after the till is equally important, and that the thread connecting all of it is data. This Retail Systems podcast brings together Flooid, Cust2M...

In today's ecommerce environment, traditional KPIs including price remain critical, but they are no longer sufficient to secure competitive advantage. Retailers are learning that the new battleground extends beyond cost leadership to include control over digital shelf space, product visibility, and relevance in the consumer journey. This challenge is amplified by the fragmentation of the consumer...

Ransomware remains an urgent and evolving threat for the UK retail sector in 2025, with attackers employing increasingly advanced tactics to breach defences and disrupt operations. Retailers, as guardians of significant volumes of sensitive customer and payment data, are under constant pressure from cybercriminals who now exploit weaknesses not only in individual businesses but across intricate su...

The retail landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years, with retailers having to work even harder to attract and retain customers, who are curbing their spending in response to the cost-of-living crisis and economic uncertainty. To stand out from the competition and win customers, many retailers are looking to AI and machine learning to automate their processes or turning to analyti...

While many savvy shoppers had already adopted contactless payment methods over the past decade, the Covid-19 pandemic created a need for a radical rethink of payments in retail. Many customers were forced to change their payment habits when they were required to abandon cash and pay via contactless or services such as PayPal when shopping online. A large portion of shoppers have since embraced the...

In a landscape of ever-increasing competition, retailers must have omnichannel strategies and platforms which are agile, adaptable, and customisable - for the benefit of retailers and consumers alike. To stay ahead of the competition, a strong omnichannel strategy is nowadays one which can adjust quickly to consumer demand and meet changing demands in the online retail landscape. Technologies such...

Inflation is rising, with the war in Ukraine pushing up the cost of oil, food and gas. To make ends meet, manufacturers and other suppliers are passing on their increased overheads to retailers. At the same time, consumers are changing their behaviour to cope with the cost of inflation, while employees demand higher wages or even leave the retail sector altogether to follow other career paths. Thi...

In exploring the topic of 5G in Retail, the technology has the potential to address communications, security, promotion, and delivery services, while driving the evolution of other technologies which also make use of connectivity. As the technology begins to roll out across the UK, 5G is touted as a connectivity evolution which will help realise greater efficiencies and streamline experiences for...

Uncertainty has been the only certainty for retailers since the pandemic hit in 2020. Brands have had to adapt quickly to the unprecedented growth of digital sales, with the Covid-19 crisis driving a momentous shift to online. At the beginning of the pandemic, Black Friday and the Christmas season saw e-commerce platforms reap the benefits of brick-and-mortar store closures. But with physical stor...

The e-commerce industry is booming post-pandemic, with more small business owners than ever making the move online and launching shops. These outlets are expected to meet consumer's changing expectations when it comes to credit, allowing Generation Z and Millennial consumers to spread out the cost of their purchases. However, companies need to make certain that they can provide this level of flexi...

Shipping a £2 item for £5 isn't a very good way to make money. However, that doesn't stop many retailers from doing it. The problem often lies in the puzzle-like structure of modern retail, which involves lots of different pieces. IT owns the systems, e-commerce owns the sites, store operations own the stores, and logistics owns transportation. But with all these siloed divisions and cost centres...

Old habits die hard. But the pandemic pushed the evolution of retail forward the best part of a decade, and as a result, adopting an integrated omnichannel model became a necessity for many businesses who wanted to meet consumer demand. But is it realistic to expect an in-store model developed over almost 100 years to change almost overnight? Now that the omnichannel model is becoming a larger par...

When bank cards were first introduced in the 1980s, the idea of e-commerce was still practically science fiction. But when the pandemic shut down stores worldwide, and retail shifted almost entirely online, we witnessed an even more radical departure from the world bank cards were designed for. And despite rising consumer demand for security, the UK has one of the highest levels of card fraud in E...

It doesn't take a global pandemic locking everyone inside for the best part of two years to change consumer buying habits, but it certainly does the trick. UK consumers have been more open minded than ever before when it comes to how, when, and where they shop, and are flocking to fast growing ways to buy whether that be click-and-collect or subscription models. The lines between physical and onli...

The dramatic shift to online during the pandemic has left customers used to a highly digitised shopping experience. Now that stores have reopened, British shoppers are seeking the ease of digital platforms on their trips to the High Street. Over the past eighteen months, retailers have needed to transform quickly in order to meet new customer demand. Whilst navigating a new retail landscape, where...

Almost everyone in the developed world has been spending more time online during the pandemic, and almost all channels have been flooded with increased traffic over the past 18 months. This was fine for the largest retailers, but many companies struggled to fill all the necessary channels with the sheer volume – and quality - of content necessary to engage discerning modern consumers. Many consume...

If you had to pick out the words that defined retail in 2020, it is likely "survival" would come up quickly. When the pandemic hit, the attentions of many brands with a significant brick-and-mortar presence shifted to keeping their balance sheets out of the red, and keeping existing employees on payroll, rather than expansion. With a sizeable portion of the UK public out of fulltime work, expandin...

If you went back in time to 2018 and told people there was going to be a pandemic that would shut stores, lock people inside, and crash economies everywhere, there is a big chance no one would have believed you. And if you told people this post-apocalyptic sounding period would also be a good time to start a business selling high-end watches, they would likely not believe that either. However, whi...

The differences between the 44 countries of Europe go far beyond how their citizens talk, sound, or act. Not only are these consumers interested in different goods from their retailers, the way in which they want to interact with them also differs markedly. Payment methods which are mainstream in some countries are almost unknown in others, while VAT regulation and tax protocols also differ heavil...

From changing consumer habits and preferences, to the accelerated shift towards e-commerce - the continued and unforeseen impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has completely transformed the risk landscape for retailers. During months of store closures, and stop-start lockdowns, retailers have had to build operational resilience and flexibility into their store estate and workforce, whilst ensuring the...

The last 12 months have seen unprecedented turbulence for the retail industry, with the boom in e-commerce and changing customer expectations upending business models and forcing retailers to adapt their supply chains and delivery processes in order to survive. And as consumers look set to continue shopping online in the new retail landscape, the role of a positive post-purchase, delivery and retu...

While the clothes we buy are affordable – the cost of rising demand, endless choice, and a constant turnover of new styles – is high. The environmental impact of our shopping habits is alarming – in the UK, roughly nine and a half thousand garments are dumped every five minutes. The social consequences of limitless access to cheap garments, are just as concerning. Alexandra Leonards spoke to Dana...

Not only do retailers have a moral responsibility, but with consumers becoming increasingly concerned about where their products come from, there is also a clear economic argument for sustainability, transparency, and ethical sourcing across retail supply chains. With a growing scrutiny of fast fashion, high-profile exposures of poor working conditions within retailer supply chains, and ongoing re...