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I was thinking recently of an Institute For Turnaround (IFT) lecture I attended in the summer of 2008 where Sir Stuart Rose was inducted as an Honorary Member and made to ‘sing for his supper’. On reflection I wonder if Sir Stuart is in possession of a crystal ball as he made what have turned out to be some frighteningly accurate predictions on the retail sector and economy as a whole. I won’t go into the negatives because you’ll be more than familiar with the bad news in retail in recent times but if his predictions continue to be accurate then I’m going to share some good news with you……….he talked about four years of pain before things got better and by my calculations that makes it this summer – hooray!
On the subject of predictions, I recently presented my business plan to our team at Interim Partners and BrightPool and highlighted the areas I think will be most prevalent for interim managers operating in retail this year. On the proactive side I see roles for interim managers who can look at opportunities for retailers to diversify and create more reason for consumers to spend. Sir Stuart summed it up nicely by saying M&S was continually trying to ‘persuade you to part with every pound that we can’. There is also the continued growth of on-line retailing. I spoke with a major parcel delivery business who have more than doubled the amount of parcels delivered in December over the last three years. Retailers will continue to invest in on-line and need operational support to make sure the growth can be supported by their supply chain. On the reactive side there is going to be continued work around Finance (cash management) and HR (business re-organisations).
I’m interested to hear your predictions for the sector in 2012. Are the good times going to return to UK retailing in time for the Olympics?
Jonathan Flynn is Head of Retail at Interim Partners.
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