Half Of Retailers Survive After Becoming Insolvent, But Old Fashioned Methods Must Change, Report Finds

'Shed Loss-Making Stores Or Face Extinction' Says Report

More than half of all jobs put under threat when retailers fell into insolvency were saved, a report from trade body R3 has found.

Analysing data from the past 18 months, R3 found 53% of under threat jobs and 48% of stores were saved.

Major retailers including Clinton Cards, La Senza, Jane Norman, Game and Aquascutum have continued trading despite falling into insolvency, helped in part by the introduction of the Enterprise Act in 2002.

This, according to R3 president Lee Manning, provides greater flexibility for the administration process, which has enabled more jobs and businesses to be saved.

However, old-fashioned business methods such as maintaining loss-making physical stores is costing companies dearly, leading Manning to call for them to adapt or prepare to go under.

“Much of the retail sector needs to change its methods of meeting customer expectations or face extinction. Store portfolios are simply too large at present, so shedding some unprofitable stores is part of this evolution," he said.

"In fact, according to figures from Deloitte, we could be seeing significant downsizing of between 30%-40% over the next three to five years."

Last week saw a surprise lift in retail trading figures from the Office for National Statistics, with sales volumes rising by 0.3% over the past month.

It is believed that the spike was caused by petrol price wars between supermarket chains, as sales volumes excluding fuel were flat despite the ongoing discounting on the high street.

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