The new Retail Proposition Index by OC&C Strategy Consultants sees discount housewares stockists Home Bargains and Wilko rising into the top 10 of consumers’ retail favourites (at nine and 10 respectively).
The report also notes that other discount retailers (B&M and Poundland) have bucked a general trend of growing consumer mistrust in retailers.
John Lewis and Amazon take second and third place in the Index, now overtaken by M&S Food. Lakeland is in 12th place, Argos at 23, and Dunelm at 26.
OC&C’s new research highlights two seemingly conflicting trends of value shopping and ethical consumerism both gaining popularity. It states that, for the first-time, attitudes to sustainability are influencing where people shop: almost half of UK consumers said a retailer’s environmental agenda was important when shopping.
Matt Coode, partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants says: “For retailers to prosper in a challenging retail climate, they need to adapt quickly to changing consumer behaviours. Our research shows that sustainability, trust and value are the most important trends for consumers this year. We also see a dramatic slowdown in the rate at which consumers are favouring purely digital players, with physical stores taking on greater importance as part of omnichannel journeys.”
*This is based on the UK findings of the OC&C UK Retail Proposition Index: 50,000 consumers globally are asked to rate the retailers they have shopped on the strength of their overall proposition, and then to score the key elements of that proposition (Price, Range, Service, etc). These results are then used to compile a ranking of over 650 retailers from across the globe.
Top: B&M is number 9 in the Retail Proposition Index.
