Stirling Retail
I work at the Institute for Retail Studies (IRS), Stirling Management School, University of Stirling in Scotland, UK. The blog (established in April 2011) is intended to provide a commentary on interesting issues to do with retailing, both in Scotland and elsewhere. https://stirlingretail.com/about/

Stirling Retail's articles

  1. Data & Insights

E-commerce: economic growth and empowerment of women and girls

This evening (18 January) I am a member of a panel at an online Royal Society of Arts (RSA) event looking at the topic of female growth and empowerment in the field of e-commerce.  The invitation came from Ann-Maree Morrison who is the co-author of a report on the topic. “This event is open to […]
3 min read
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  1. Trends & External Forces

The (Retail) Reality of our Current Predicament

Whatever political leanings one has, the last ten days or so have hopefully provided a nadir in political (mis-)management of the economy and society.  The crashing of the pound, the almost demise of the pension market, a screeching u-turn on the smallest (though symbolic) part of the plan (“special fiscal event”) and the sense of […]
3 min read
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  1. Channel: Dollar/Value

Then there were three?

British grocery retailing has for decades been dominated by a small number of large and powerful retailers. That remains the case. Over the period however the number of firms involved has altered. In the 1980s we talked about the “big 5”. This became the “big 4” when Morrisons and Safeway merged and has remained that […]
2 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

The Cost-of-living Crisis and its impact on Retailers and their Customers

Source: Office for National Statistics A few weeks ago, I posted a Q&A session I had done with The Conversation on the cost-of-living crisis. At the time I was working on a longer piece for the Economics Observatory. We wanted to wait for various data updates to appear in the w/c 18th July and now […]
3 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

Grocery Market Shares in Great Britain (GB) 1997-2022

It’s July and that can only mean one thing – it is time to update the grocery market share data for Great Britain. Forget global warming and the heatwave and the cost-of-living crisis (not really for either), this is the latest instalment of slow data for this series. Regulars to this blog know that I […]
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  1. Shopper & Customer

Shopping: the cost of living crisis – Q&A with The Conversation

In between graduation ceremonies last Friday (as we caught up with the pandemic impacted ceremonies of 2020 and 2021), I was interviewed by Steven Vass of The Conversation about the cost of living crisis and Shopping. The result is a Q&A piece which was published last Friday and which I reproduce from The Conversation below. […]
4 min read
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  1. Trends & External Forces

The Retail Strategy for Scotland – Launch Day Questions to the Minister

As noted in my previous post, on the 24th March the Scottish Government published its Retail Strategy for Scotland and the Minister Tom Arthur MSP launched it in Parliament that afternoon.  The Strategy can be downloaded here and the Ministerial Statement here. Ministerial Statement available on YouTube Following the statement, MSPs had the opportunity to […]
3 min read
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Giving Evidence to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on Town Centres and Retail

The Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee’s call for written evidence for its inquiry into town centre and retail expired on the 16th March and they are now into oral evidence. The Committee posed two questions in its opening brief: Identify the new realities of retail and ecommerce in Scotland and the resulting impact […]
5 min read
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  1. Agencies & Vendors

2021 : the stirlingretail.com year in retrospect

My reflections this time last year noted that in the ten years of running this blog, 2020 had seen it attract the most visitors in a year.  2020 saw more than 70% more visitors than any previous year. Well, the volume in 2021 has matched that of last year and even seen a few hundred […]
3 min read
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  1. Channel: Mass

Queen Bees : Q-commerce, the on-demand world and the changing meaning of online retailing

Online retailing is now close to 30 years old.  It has seen an almost relentless growth over much of this period, accelerated by events such as Black Friday and Christmas, and more recently super-charged by the pandemic and lockdown.  The graph of the increasing penetration of online sales in the UK has become well known. […]
3 min read
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Retail Impact Assessments: Time for a Rethink?

This is the second in a linked series of posts.  The next one reflects on existing out-of-town developments and what we need to do about them.  The first was on the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).  In that post the sequential test and the impact assessment of retail development was mentioned.  The latter issue […]
4 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

National Planning Framework 4 – the consultation

This is the first of three loosely linked posts arising from the draft National Planning Framework 4. This one is on the draft itself; the second is on Retail Impact Assessments; and the third is on implications for existing developments. A few weeks ago, the long anticipated draft National Planning Framework 4 (The National Spatial […]
4 min read
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