Research in detail

The Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) is a Big Data initiative run jointly between University College London (UCL) and the Universities of Leeds, Liverpool and Oxford. Over five years, it aims to provide the focus for ESRC's interests in the retail sector and its commitment to capacity building in relation to big data. The CDRC is designed to preserve data that will provide retailers and academics alike with insights into medium and longer-term trends within an industry that is undergoing rapid and dynamic change.

The Centre seeks to open up consumer data resources and focuses on ways in which value can be extracted from new sources of data to benefit researchers in business, government and society at large.

Oxford's primary contribution to the project lies in the provision of capacity-building activity through building awareness of these resources with stakeholders, developing and supporting events, workshops and training. An annual CDRC conference will provide a forum for academics and their students to network with retailers and devise shared projects grounded in knowledge exchange.

Jonathan Reynolds is Associate Director of the Centre and Claudia Seiler, based in Oxford, its Knowledge Exchange Executive.

Objectives

• To provide services to enable research access to business data that will provide safe and secure access for researchers to work on the data and will have the technical infrastructure to deliver a national open and secure service through a three-tier data system.
• To collaborate with data owners and encourage the participation of further data owners through active engagement with retailers and other customer focused organisations.
• To act as a centre of expertise in consumer data and to harness the potential of consumer-related Big Data.
• To conduct and stimulate an original programme of research using the data made available, and explore ways to improve access to analysis of data, as well as opportunities for data linkage.
• To develop a programme of knowledge exchange that will facilitate the exchange of skills, knowledge and technologies between the research base and practitioners/research users to realise the opportunities closer partnership and collaboration can bring.
• To develop a programme to build capacity and capability in data analytics, within both the commercial and academic sectors.

Research outputs

Reynolds, J. & A.D. Treadgold, (2016), Navigating the New Retail Landscape, Oxford University Press.

Other research outputs

The Changing Geography of Retail Places
Researchers: Jonathan Reynolds & Wojciech Piotrowicz, University of Oxford

The future vitality and viability of the UK’s High Streets have attracted considerable attention over the last few years. However, much of this attention – not least recent policy-making in this area - has been based on rhetoric and anecdotal evidence rather than data-driven reality. This project analysed the ways in which the retail mix of over 150,000 shops across 1,300 UK High Streets has changed over the past two years, as well as over the past thirty - using research previously conducted in Oxford. Our findings identified the effects of online retailing, the growth in value outlets and the proliferation of consumer service businesses. 
Partner: Local Data Company

Mapping Retail Sector Business Rate Inequalities
Researchers: Alex Singleton, University of Liverpool

This project examines geographic variation in business rates between retail centres of England and Wales, examining differences emerging within regions and also by composite retail function. The project is conducted in partnership with the Local Data Company (LDC) provides evidence that may be useful in reconfiguring future rates in order to serve issues of regional vitality and the economic health of town centres.
Partner: Local Data Company

E-resilience of UK town centres
Researchers: Les Dolega & Alex Singleton, University of Liverpool

The concept of resilience has attracted the attention of increasing numbers of social scientists from a wide range of disciplines to help describe the impacts and response to disruptions and more gradual processes of change. The rapid growth of online sales have impacted UK retail centres in complex ways and can be viewed as a source of long-term change to their structure, referred to as a 'slow burn'. However, these issues are difficult to measure as they are complex and multidimensional.
Partner: Local Data Company

Summary
The programme has the aim of helping:

• to research future retail experiences
• to network with retail and related companies, academics and researchers
• to encourage retail progressive public policies 
• This will be achieved through the active participation of world class organisations with a world class research institution.

Research outputs
Outputs from the programme include:

• a half yearly Retail Digest report
• A state of retailing (regional perspective)
• Future of retailing (international perspective)
• An annual workshop for Programme supporters focused on future retail policy and practice
• An annual conference for Programme supporters focused on new ideas and opportunities emanating from current research

Sponsor opportunities
If you would like to become a supporter of this research programme, please contact us at OXIRMEnquiries@sbs.ox.ac.uk. 

Supporters
Supporters have access to the following benefits associated with this programme during the 12 month cycle: 

• Acknowledgement of the supporter's name in Programme publications;
• 1 guaranteed place at the annual workshop;
• 2 guarenteed places at the annual conference;
• 10 free copies of the Retail Digest reports;
• Prior knowledge of OXIRM research activities;
• Invitations to attend OXIRM events;
• Invitations to attend related Saïd Business School events;
• Invitations to attend related University of Oxford events;
• Networking opportunities with other Programme supporters;
• Networking opportunities with retail academics, students and visiting scholars.
• Founding sponsor
• Intel

Duration
Annually; September - August

Research outputs

• Piotrowicz, W. & Cuthbertson, R.W. (Eds) (2018). Omnichannel Retailing: the Next Step in the Evolution. Springer.
• Piotrowicz, W. & Cuthbertson, R.W. (Eds) (2015). Supply Chain Design and Management for Emerging Markets: Learning from Countries and Regions. Springer.
• Piotrowicz, W. & Cuthbertson, R. (2014). Towards Omnichannel retailing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce. 18: 4, 5-16.
• Mukherjee, M., Howard, E. & Cuthbertson, R.W. (Eds) (2014). Retailing in Emerging Markets: a policy and strategy perspective. Routledge.
• Reynolds, J. & M. Wilson-Jeanselme, (2005), ‘Competing for the online grocery customer: the UK experience’, in, Kornum, N. & M. Bjerre, (eds), Grocery E-Commerce. Consumer Behaviour and Business Strategies, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.
• Reynolds, J., (co-editor, with C. Cuthbertson) (2003), Retail Strategy: The View from the Bridge, Butterworth-Heinemann. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750656964/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026-8733816-6517229

• The state of UK retail places
• Value-driven service innovation
• Economic study on commerce in the EU economy

Sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council
 

February 2013 - April 2013
The future vitality and viability of the UK’s High Streets have attracted considerable attention over the last few years. However, much of this attention – not least recent policy-making in this area - has been based on rhetoric and anecdotal evidence rather than data-driven reality. During a short, 3-month, KEO project, Oxford University researchers and the Local Data Company (LDC) analysed the ways in which the retail mix of over 150,000 shops across 1,300 UK High Streets has changed over the past two years, as well as over the past thirty - using research previously conducted in Oxford. Our findings identified the effects of online retailing, the growth in value outlets and the proliferation of consumer service businesses. For the UK’s High Streets to thrive in the future is not just about being big enough to withstand a mixture of economic austerity, online and out-of-town retailing. Whilst many big retail centres continue to be resilient, the most successful smaller town centres are proving to be diverse and versatile, perhaps developing specialist roles. The research team calculated a retail diversity, as well as a service diversity index, for every UK High Street. Our research showed that many of the country’s High Streets continue to evolve to play the changing roles required of them by residents, workers, visitors and their competitive context – although not always into roles that match the expectations of commentators or politicians, perhaps fed by misplaced nostalgia rather than by the realities that some High Streets face.

How are UK High Streets different from each other?
We developed a variety of new metrics as part of a tool kit for stakeholders, in addition to calculating centre profiles by business type and category. For example, a Retail Diversity Index measures the variety of comparison goods outlets present in a place, and thus the more interesting places to shop. A Service Diversity Index recognizes that many High Streets are more than just places for shopping. A leisure services component scored highly centres with particularly strong entertainment and hospitality roles. 

How have the UK's High Streets changed?
Over the past two years, the story is as much about a change in the mix as it is of massive across the board declines. Several very specific structural changes underlie this.

(a) Digitisation. High Streets have already begun to respond to the most obvious effects of online retailing. In the most vulnerable categories, where the product itself is being digitized there has been a -13% fall in High Street outlet numbers – this equates to over 1,000 stores.

(b) Value. The last two years has seen a +12.4% increase in value-related retailing. There are now over 10,000 such shops, comprising 9% of the total.

(c) Pawnbrokers, pay-day lenders and betting shops have attracted special attention from politicians. There has been a +17% growth in these outlet numbers since 2011, not just in more traditional metropolitan High Streets but also in smaller market towns. 

(d) Food is returning to many High Streets. Independent c-stores in High Streets have grown by +17%, whilst multiple convenience stores, driven by the interest of the major grocery brands, have grown by +8%.

(e) Health & Beauty. This category grew by +10.4%, or by more than 2,300 outlets over the last two years. Indeed, there are now more nail salons on British High Streets than Chinese restaurants.

Over the longer term (30 years) there is longstanding stability amongst the top ten centres, there are clear rises and falls lower in the list. The biggest rises include centres with new development as well as, of course, wholly new entrants. Falls include Croydon, Doncaster and Plymouth, as well as several centres that have exited the top 50 altogether, including Sheffield (63), Swansea (61), Coventry (58) and Middlesborough (56)

What of future prospects for High Streets?
Based on recent historic change, the number of comparison goods multiple outlets in our town centres by 2018 could undergo a further fall of some -13% (some 5,000 outlets) over and above the -5% fall since 2011. But such analysis is simplistic: the reality is much more complex, given the relative growth and decline of particular categories of business. OXIRM & LDC have agreed to work to develop a series of possible trajectories for town centres, based on a set of assumptions about the future.

Impacts to date
The research had significant immediate impact. The findings of the research were covered extensively by the BBC (Radio 4, website, local radio and television) the FT, the Independent and the Daily Mail. The researchers met the Minister responsible for this area of policy, Mark Prisk. The results of the research have been shared with the Department for Communities & Local Government and the Department for Business at both ministerial and senior civil servant level.

Research outputs

• Reynolds, J., & S.M. Wood, (2013), Knowledge management, organisational learning and memory in UK retail network planning, The Service Industries Journal, 33:2, 150-170, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2011.614340
• Reynolds, J., & S.M. Wood, (2012), Leveraging locational insights within retail store development? Assessing the use of location planners’ knowledge in retail marketing, Geoforum, 43(6), November, pp.1076-1087, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.06.014
• Reynolds, J., & S.M. Wood, (2012), Establishing Territorial Embeddedness within Retail Transnational Corporation (TNC) Expansion: The Contribution of Store Development Departments, Regional Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2012.701731
• Reynolds, J., & S.M. Wood, (2012), ‘Managing communities and managing knowledge: strategic decision making and store network investment within retail multinationals’, Journal of Economic Geography, 2 (2): 539-565. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbr038 
• Reynolds, J., & S.M. Wood, (2011), ‘The Intra-Firm Context of Retail Expansion Planning’, Environment & Planning (A), 43: 2468-2491.
• Reynolds, J. & S.M. Wood, (2010), ‘Location Decision-Making in Retail Firms: Evolution and Challenge’, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38 (11/12), pp. 828-845.

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Sponsored by Research Council of Norway, Accenture and Borg Innovation

Commenced October 2008
Most value creation and employment in developed economies occurs in the service sector, including healthcare, retail, financial services, tourism, education, social services and consulting to name a few. Hence, there is a strong need for understanding innovation in services. However, there is no universally agreed definition of services and no universally agreed definition of innovation. Moreover, service innovation cuts across traditional academic areas, such as economics, strategy, organisational behaviour, marketing and operations management.

Scholars do not quote one another and adopt different empirical objects and modes of perceiving them (Fagerberg, 2006). This project aims to unravel some of this confusion and so present a clearly delineated research agenda, while still recognising the multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary nature of research into service innovation.

The specific objective of the VDSI project is to advance methodologies for developing innovative service concepts that increase value to the consumer. The project is jointly run with partners at BI School of Management and Haas Business School, Berkeley. Scholarship goals include the production of at least 3 “A” grade papers - the first by summer 2010 - and a book in 2012. At least 2 doctoral students will be fully funded at BI during the period, with exchanges with Oxford and more to be considered here and in Berkeley, as funding streams develop. Total funding is currently NOK26.2 million (GBP2.5 million).

Research outputs

• Furseth, P. I., & Cuthbertson, R.W., (2016). Innovation in an Advanced Consumer Society. Oxford University Press.
• Cuthbertson, R.W., Furseth, P. I, & Ezell, S. (2015). Innovating in a Service-Driven Economy: Insights, Application and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hristov, L. & Reynolds, J., (2015), ‘Perceptions and Practices of Innovation in Retailing: challenges of definition and measurement’, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 43 Iss: 2, pp.126 – 147
• Furseth, P-I, & Cuthbertson, R.W., (2014). The service innovation triangle: moving to an alternative business model, in: Alsos, G. A., Eide, D, & Madsen, E. L. (Ed.s) Handbook of research on innovation in tourism industries. Edward Elgar.
• Berridge, C., de Mello, S., Furseth, P-I & Cuthbertson, R. W. (2014). Technology based innovation for independent living. Journal of Aging & Social Policy 26: 3.
• Reynolds, J. & L. Hristov, (2009), ‘Are there barriers to innovation in retailing?’, International Review of Retail, Distribution & Consumer Research, 19(4), September, pp. 317-330. (Based on Best Paper at the European Association of Research into Commercial Distribution Annual Conference, 2009)
• Reynolds, J., E.B. Howard, L. Hristov, & C. Cuthbertson, (2007), ‘Perspectives on retail format innovation: relating theory and practice’, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 35(8), pp. 647-660.

Commissioned by Eurocommerce, Independent Retail Europe and the European Retail Round Table

June 2013 - March 2014
 

The study looks at the contribution of the sector to growth, employment and added societal value in terms that are relevant to EU policy-makers.

Specific areas include the structure of the sector and its contribution to the growth agenda; the impacts of employment within the sector; consumer benefits and the performance of the European retail and wholesale sector versus other international comparators; the economic impact of e-commerce and multi-channel retailing on the sector and third party organizations; and the impact of supply chain initiatives and the contribution of European retailers to other economies and societies.   

The Institute is experienced and has been successful in undertaking research commissioned or funded by a wide range of organisations in both the public sector (e.g. DBIS, DCLG, European Commission, NESTA, Research Council of Norway, Transport for London) as well as the private sector (e.g. ACNielsen, Alliance Boots, Amdocs, Association of Convenience Stores, IBM, International Group of Department Stores, KPMG, Mars, Tesco).

The Institute has also collaborated as a partner in both national and international projects with academic, private sector and consulting organisations (such as the BI Norwegian School of Business, Universita di Parma,UCL, the Universities of Southampton, Liverpool, Surrey and Leeds; Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, the British Council of Shopping Centres, London Economics, Eurocommerce and CIES – the food industry forum). 

We welcome enquiries: please contact us.

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