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Welcome
to the Centre for Retail Research Website.
The Centre for Retail Research started as a university research
group and has been independent since 1997.
Professor Joshua Bamfield is the Centre's Director.
Business Areas
The Centre for Retail Research gives businesses and public-sector
organisations authoritative research and consultancy on retail,
financial services, service industries and training.
GLOBAL RETAIL THEFT BAROMETER 2010 - TENTH INTERNATIONAL SURVEY
FROM THE CENTRE FOR RETAIL RESEARCH
Work on the Global Theft Barometer 2010 has now started. It will
assess retail crime trends in 43 countries. The new country this
year will be Russia, joining the U.S., China, India, Europe, Brazil,
Australia, Japan in the largest such study in the world. Questionnaires
are being sent out about now for this confidential study. If you
would like to participate and have not received a questionnaire
please send us an email to research@retailresearch.org
Further information
about GRTB 2010 here.
The
results of GRTB 2009 can be found here.
SHOPPPING FOR THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP 2010
Centre for Retail Research researchers have estimated that the
2010 FIFA World Cup is set to boost UK retail sales by an estimated
£987 million if England survives to the second round ('round of
16') increasing to £2.1 billion if they get to the Finals.
The World Cup is a retail sales opportunity. After the Group round,
every goal scored by an English footballer will be worth £126.3
million to UK retailers.
The CRR Report, Shopping for the World Cup, has been commissioned
by Kelkoo, Europe's largest e-commerce website. Online spending
for the World Cup is expected to be 10.2% of World Cup retail sales
during the tournament. TV and electrical sales will make up 15%
of all online shopping for the World Cup.
The biggest single area of World Cup spend will be food and drink.
Fans will spend £209 million on food and £250 million on non-alcoholic
and alcoholic drinks if England survives to the end of round 2,
and a combined total of £874 million if they get to the Finals.
TV and audio will also be important, £250 million by the end of
round 2 and £620 million if England goes all the way. Spending on
memorabilia and souvenirs is expected to be £50 by the end of round
2 and £95 million if England reach the Finals, and sportswear/footwear
and kit will be £200 by the end of round 2 and £360 million if England
reach the Finals.
Pubs and clubs should earn £110 million by the end of round 2,
building up to a staggering £305 million if England gets to the
Finals. Betting will be even more important, providing £1.2 billion
to conventional sites and online.
Retail Forecast
Shopping for Christmas: We're very pleased
to note that our Christmas retail forecast (in cooperation with
Kelkoo) was correct. All the results have yet to be compiled, but
this is the fourth Christmas in a row that we got it right - a 'reasonable'
though not massive increase in sales through shops and a large jump
in online sales - based on a consumer survey in early September
and some industrial economics in late September. Deloitte and Verdict
both forecast a fall in Christmas sales. The full report analyses
the key trends in Christmas shopping; shoppers' spending on presents,
decorations, food and drink; attitudes towards shopping in high-street
stores and online; and the likely share of online shopping this
Christmas.
More information here >>>
We are, of course, experts on e-commerce and have followed the
development of online retailers since 1991.
The Centre keeps a close eye on the worrying news about the retail
sector.In 2009, 37 retailers responsible for 26,688 employees and
6,536 stores had gone into administration. Key retailers included
Borders, Thirst Quench, Stylo, Principles, Sofa Workshop, Allied
Carpets, Viyella, and Barratts. For further information press
here .
To see what companies have problems press
here and our forecast for 2009-2010 , excitingly subtitled 'Hard
Pounding Gentlemen', press
here.
The Centre's work >
Retail, Financial and Other Services and Training
Although
we are best known for our research on crime and fraud, at least
half our work deals with retail/services research, shopping issues,
SMEs, training, and diversity. You can go directly to our latest
research, our retail
forecast for 2009 & 2010 or our other briefings about topics
such as retail failures,
RFID, and the progress
of ethnic-minority retail businesses in Reports
and Briefings.
The Economics of Retail
We have been producing retail forecasts for some years. We have
particular skills in the economics of recession. Professor Bamfield
studied 'Currency and Credit' with Sir Roy Harrod (Keynes' right-hand
man at Bretton Woods and the IMF) at Oxford University, specialising
in Central Bank policy in the 1930s. Some might say that could be
relevant for the world we face now?
Crime and Fraud
Our research and consultancy about retail
crime+fraud, particularly the Global
Theft Barometer and our work on Internal
fraud in Financial Services and Retail can be seen at Reports
and Briefings.
The Centre's research is widely quoted
Much of our commissioned work is confidential to our clients, but
the Centre's research has been extensively reported in Britain and
abroad in programmes like the BBC's Today Programme, BBC 24, Channel
4 News, ITV, BBC News, Sky and TV stations in The Netherlands, Czech
Republic, and Germany. Major newspapers that have also carried our
reports and interviews include Frankfurter Allgemeine, The Times,
Financial Times, The Economist, Evening Standard (UK) The Financial
Daily/ Financieele Dagblad (Amsterdam), Täglicher Marktbe (Germany),
Expansion (Spain), The Irish Independent, Irish Post, the Times
of India, Washington Times, and International Herald Tribune.

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