Business Reporter - The future of retail 

By Mark Dodds, chair of CIM's Food, Drink and Agriculture sector interest group

With high streets currently in lockdown, physically shopping for anything other than essentials remains virtually impossible. As a result, some more innovative and inherently flexible specialists have been able to take advantage. These smaller shops have been very quick to up their online games, and have launched delivery services which often seem more responsive than some of their larger competitors. In addition, of course, corner shops have thrived as consumers often use an amble to the local shop for the essentials as part of their daily exercise and know that their trip will probably be much less stressful than going to the supermarket.

In fact, according to research published by Barclaycard covering 16 to 22 March, the week before tighter restrictions were put in place, there were peaks in consumer spending. Compared with the same period a year earlier, the research found that spending in specialist food and drink stores including off licences and greengrocers, had increased by 80 per cent.

For the full article, click here: https://www.business-reporter.co.uk/2020/04/29/looking-into-the-future-of-retail/#gsc.tab=0