Total value of retail sales in UK is £394 billion per annum and just under 9% of the UK workforce namely 3.19 million people work in the Industry. 5% of our total GDP , everything we produce is from retail sales.
There are 319,000 retail businesses. For every person in the UK there is 5 square feet of retail space, approximately 325 million square feet. The USA has five times more retail space per person, that’s right approximately 1.5 billion square feet. No wonder Napoleon described us as a nation of shopkeepers.
However 20% of retail sales are now online and that has grown three fold in 10 years. No wonder Jeff Bezos the garage bookseller who founded Amazon in July 1994 is now one of the world’s richest men. By the amount of cardboard arriving at my house these days it looks like we are supporting his family over Christmas.
In the last 24 hours two of the major retail players in the UK have gone out of business leaving 25,000 jobs lost. This loss will be forever unless a buyer is found but that is highly unlikely. In the last year with COVID-19 over 100,000 retail jobs have now been lost. The UK nuclear family of 2.4 people is now in decline but the ripple affect of job loss is double the jobs lost.
The future looks increasingly more towards online and with China landing another vehicle on the moon today we as humans look like we can deliver cardboard to all places pretty well. China meantime are seeking to increase the size of its middle class by 2035 and Xi Jinping wants to increase the 400 million middle income to 800 million ( middle income defined as earning $18000 per annum ). These people want to shop and they love brands. The China Government will no doubt lead the online offering and soon dwarf Amazon as their population is nearly 5 times more than the USA which is why China will lead all in the 21st Century.
People will shop till they drop and the opportunities that exist for post Brexit Britain are enormous but we must embrace internationally and particularly towards China. If they let us in they should let them in. Huawei, My Way or Your Way, whatever way we need to embrace China and reduce the inevitable unemployment that looms on High Street and Low Street.
Add the drop in consumer spending and increase in savings unless we shop till we drop the UK economy will hit the buffers and with Brexit only a month away we need all the help we can get.
qbitblogger 