04
EDITOR’SCOMMENT
RETAILTECHNOLOGY
High Street must put
Editor
Miya Knights
e: mknights@bpl-business.com
t: 07810 648 706
on a brave face
Publisher
Simon Turton
While even those having to chop large
e: sturton@bpl-business.com
parts of their budgets to survive this recession
t: 01895 454 603
A
ccording to research produced
by Verdict Consulting for IT
management vendor, ActiveResilience would do well to look at the technology they
Consultant Editor
retail spending growth on the High Street will have already invested in to see if it can be run
Chris Field
e: c� eld@retailtechnology.co.uk
shrink by over 4% (excluding internet sales any better or contribute to more ef� cient
t: 01435 873 377
and sales at grocery multiples), the largest ways of doing business across the board. But
Advertising
drop since Verdict’s records began in 1965. for some, attack may well prove to be the
Simon Turton
e:
And this slower rate of growth at a time of best means of defence. And this month’s
sturton@bpl-business.com
t: 01895 454 603
increasing costs could potentially wipe £3.6 Payments feature (pages 14 to 20) is full of
Chairman
billion (bn) off the collective pro� ts at leading great examples of where retailers often have
Chris Boeree
retailers in 2009. no choice but to defend their income against
e: cboeree@bpl-business.com
As a result, the pressure on the consumer increasingly sophisticated criminals.
Design
Whitewater GFX
is intense. According to Verdict, over the past I think Nigel Phelps, managing director of
e: admin@whitewatergfx.co.uk
ten years consumers have consistently spent Catalysts, the developers of ActiveResilience,
t: 08452 998596
more than they have earned: income growth should give all retailers hope that technology
Circulation & Subscriptions
has run at an average of 2.4% a year, but can help them put a brave face on for their
e: circ@wdis.co.uk
t: 0208 606 7300
has been outstripped by spending growth, all important customers in his comments on
Subscriptions
which has grown by 3.3% a year. The shortfall the � ndings of the Verdict report. He urged:
Subscription prices for one year are: has been made up both by consumers “Recession is a time to reassess your business,
£75 (UK), £85 (Europe),
dipping into savings and consumers taking seek out a new approach and deal with your
£110 (Overseas)
on additional debt. This has left household future uncertainty. That 2014 High Street may
Retail Technology
3rd Floor, Armstrong House,
� nances in a precarious position and has be quite different to the one we see today,
38 Market Square, Uxbridge, decimated the appetite to spend. but it is likely to be more exciting than ever,
Middlesex, UB8 1LH, UK
“2009 is going to be one of the worst � lled with strong brands that can � ex and
t: 01895 454411
f: 01895 454413
years on record for the High Street,” said Neil bend with their customers’ needs.”
www.retailtechnology.co.uk
Saunders, Verdict Research consulting director.
“The consumer purse is under signi� cant
Miya Knights
Reasonable care is taken to
avoid errors in this magazine
pressure and, while a cut in VAT may help
Editor
but no liability is accepted for household budgets, it is economic naïveté to
mknights@bpl-business.com
any errors which may occur.
think it is going to make consumers embark
No material in this publication
may be reproduced in anyway
on a spending spree.”
without the consent of the And although the deterioration in
publishers. The publishers will
spending is predicted to ease after 2009, the
not accept any responsibility for
the safe return of unsolicited
High Street will continue to face a dif� cult
manuscripts, software or time well past 2010 and positive growth is
equipment. Please keep a
not expected to fully return until 2014. Verdict
copy of all work submitted
for publication and do not
predicts six years of negative growth will
send original artwork. We will take their toll on High Street sales, which will
assume permission to publish
decline by 17.6bn from £157.5bn in 2008 to
any unsolicited material unless
otherwise stated.
£139.9bn by 2013.
©BPL Business Media Ltd
What is the High Street retailer to do, with
margins and pro� ts under as much pressure
as the consumer? Many might understandably
want to cut back on spending. But those that
can are still buying IT, as is evidenced by our
bumper batch of breaking news and deals.
Our new “Offshoring” supplement (pages
21 to 27) examines the ways that bringing in
Member of the Audit Bureau of
Circulations 7,760 Jan 08 – Dec 08
third-party technology expertise can help to
manage spending while driving added value
ISSN No 1359-0146
from any retailer’s IT investment.
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