Richard works with retail practitioners and policy makers in the UK and overseas.
He encourages policymakers to understand the importance of retail and how it can create wealth, employment, and a more representative society. As well as working with governments in Europe, Asia and the US, Richard and his colleagues liaise frequently with retailing practitioners, such as Sainsbury's, Intel, P&G, BP, Santander, Wipro and KPMG, advising them on a range of issues including loyalty marketing, distribution systems and the future of retail.
Through a mixture of research projects, executive education programmes and consultancy, he has educated retailers about the changing nature of retailing and services, helping them to understand the impact of the increase in digital technology and the consumer society. His work has direct practical implications for the sector. Richard demonstrates this by reference to his ongoing research on Intelligent Retailing, commenting: 'We talk a lot about multichannel retailing - online retailing versus in-store retailing - and this research will look at the merger of these two things and the implications of this development'. His team's research points to the fact that these elements cannot be wholly separated. With major retailers leaving high streets, especially in deprived areas, and the increasing dominance of internet shopping giants, what increasingly survives locally are niche stores such as quirky cafes and artisanal markets which provide a unique shopping experience. Larger players like John Lewis and Waitrose, Richard believes, have also done very well in the downturn 'because they're focused on a particular group of customers'. Richard foresees the likelihood of shops turning into places of connection where customer relationships are built or broken, for example with consumers browsing before buying online, but perhaps still in-store. One such business model development will be the online world entering the store, with bricks and mortar shops earning a referral fee for directing customers to online stores or suppliers, such as Amazon or Coca Cola.
In committee work, Richard has sat on Boards and steering groups in public policy and business associations, such as the industry-led Global Scorecard Initiative and European Commission review bodies. He is currently a Board Member of the Charity Retail Association.
Richard has given expert comment on retailing issues to newspapers, business magazines and broadcasters around the world, including the BBC, Retail Week and The Times of India.
He serves on the Governing Body, the executive General Purposes Committee, and is the Secretary to the Governing Body at Green Templeton College, Oxford.
