What you need to know
This report aims to clarify what is happening to our retail locations in the face of competition from online retailing. It is not enough to say that online retailing grew by 13% in 2014 to 11.3% of all retail sales and it is therefore gaining share of retail sales because over half of all online sales are through the websites of store-based retailers.
Retailing is changing and not just because of the growth of online. The trend of people moving back into the inner cities (Mintel’s trend Rebirth of Cities) is leading to profound changes in the way we shop. There is a move back to local shopping and a move away from shopping at superstores and on retail parks. Online is complementary to in-store retailing and it is becoming increasingly artificial to make any distinction between them, at least as far as store-based retailers are concerned.
We are optimistic for the outlook for retail sales growth over the next couple of years, but where that money is being spent is changing and that is presenting great challenges for retailers.
Retail outlets as defined in this report
The retail locations used in this report are based on the different types of shopping mission.
Local centres – small high streets and neighbourhood stores. These are small centres, primarily for top-up shopping and satisfying immediate needs. So they include everything from corner shops through to small high streets which we think need to be developed as local centres. Such high streets have very few multiples and certainly no M&S or department store.
Major centres – city centres and major shopping centres such as Bluewater or Westfield. These centres are for big shopping trips when a large selection of major multiples is wanted. They are the place for comparison shopping and have department stores and major multiples including M&S.
Retail parks – collections of out-of-town non-food superstores. Typically these contain furniture, electricals and DIY retailers. But they can also have retailers such as M&S, Next and Boots in them. We specifically exclude the grocery superstores from these.
Grocery superstores – the superstores of the big four food retailers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
Online – any online sales, whether through a pureplay or store-based retailer.
