12 December 2013 Leigh Sparks - The future of retailing

In a welcome return to the Club last week, Leigh Sparks, Professor of Retail Studies at Stirling University, gave members a brief outline of the changes which had taken place in the retail sector over the last few years and gave his insight into future trends.

The advent of internet shopping, technological developments such as e-books and changes in consumer attitudes and demands have all led to a business which is far removed from that of a couple of decades ago. Leigh pointed out that although it was only 5 years since Woolworths collapsed, the store had been in decline since the 1980's as it had not responded to changes in consumer demands. Other changes were a result of product and process innovation, such as so called 'dark stores' which are large warehouses with interiors laid out like supermarkets so staff can walk around to compile orders and the 'click and collect'  system now in common use by major supermarkets and others. The advent of 'convenience' stores, located in petrol and rail stations was another example of changing consumer demand and Leigh described Terminal 5 at Heathrow as a retail outlet with a runway attached.

As far as the future of retailing was concerned, Leigh thought it likely that the period of austerity will continue for some time and this will provide ongoing opportunities for the development of stores such as Aldi and Lidl as well as the high street pawnbrokers and exchange shops. The future was likely to be towards bigger retail outlets with a wide range of services, more functional outlets some of which we may visit, but there was a real interest in local, community outlets which may be linked to major retailers as collection and return outlets.

Paddy Holmes thanked Leigh, on behalf of the members, for a fascinating talk.