Ozva AdminFrasers Group, Mountain Warehouse, Crew Clothing, Uniqlo and Homebase are the top five retailers in the UK by store growth over the last three years, as shown by Retail Week Prospect’s exclusive data analysis of store and concession volumes.
These findings and many more are explored in The Great Store Revival: New Locations, New Players, and New Opportunities.
Produced in association with Cegid, the report also features data from Local Data Company on the growth and decline of UK store formats and locations over the past three years, store growth by sector and the role of retailers. independent retailers.
With stores recovering, The great revival of the store provides a springboard for retailers to adapt their store strategies to drive foot traffic and stay relevant in 2022 and beyond.
Frasers Group: A look at your store strategy
- Store footprint expansion through acquisitions
- Invest heavily in retail experience and CX store
- Frontline staff development is a core focus
Frasers Group, with a 63% increase in store numbers between 2019 and 2022 to 1,547 stores, is the runaway leader, fueled by owner Mike Ashley’s purchasing behavior before and during the pandemic.
Ashley’s latest acquisition was the online business Studio Retail, which bought out of administration in Februaryand that followed the acquisition of luxury fashion retailer Psyche in January 2021 and gym and fitness chain DW Sports in 2020.
Prior to that, Ashley took a more than one-third stake in luxury brand Mulberry and a 16.4% stake in fashion brand Hugo Boss, as well as acquiring Game, Jack Wills, House of Fraser, Evans Cycles and Sofa.com during a busy period between 2018 and 2019.
At the time, Ashley described her intention to create “High Street Harrods” thanks to Frasers’ multi-brand model.
Frasers Group has been investing heavily in experiential retail and store innovations, led by new chief executive Michael Murray, who before taking the lead role in May was head of elevation.
The groups Wolverhampton Storecomplete with a beauty salon and flexible modular merchandising units, which are built with the ability to be quickly changed or rearranged, was presented between Retail Week’s Top 10 New Store Openings in 2021.
Murray sees the opening of the new space as a “pivotal moment” in the group’s elevation strategy as it looks to improve the look and feel of its portfolio by focusing more on the store experience and how the business goes digital, in addition to selling plus. premium products.
The elevation strategy also covers how the Frasers Group is developing its staff. The group says it is “investing in creating a world-class learning and development program to provide the best possible experience for our retail community” and the focus of this training is service, product and operations excellence.
This type of training is being developed across the group, but will be particularly important in Frasers’ burgeoning retail categories such as beauty, where product knowledge and a service/sell-based approach will be vital to driving success in House of Fraser and fascia flannels.
Get a free copy of The great revival of the store This day for the full ranking of the top 30 UK retailers by store growth.
You will also:
- Find out where stores are opening, what store formats are launching and how the market has changed from 2019 to 2022
- See which retail sectors are investing more in physical retail and which are not.
- Learn how independent retailers are making their mark on UK retail property
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