Jeff Moody said: “Retailers are not going to be caught in the way they were 20 months only stocking brands. They are far more open to stocking tertiary brands. They’re looking at their sourcing.”
He added that there was a major shift among consumers for eco-products, with smaller independent retailers again able to move with more agility to change their product ranges, compared to the bigger businesses.
Buying patterns were also changing, he added and he said: “There’s been a massive move away from cash.”
However, Trish Milliken said it was important that retailers continued to cater for older people who didn’t use cards. She added: “While we’re opening up new channels for payments, we mustn’t close down the old ones.”
Bryan Clover, chief executive of the Rainy Day Trust, a charity supporting the home improvement workforce and their families, said it was getting calls for help from workers in debt after being on furlough. “Stress and anxiety” were other major issues to be faced.
The ‘pingdemic’ caused by track and trace was also having an impact on…
