The economic, social and environmental implications of recent changes in retailing constitute significant contemporary issues, which are the focus of this timely book. Retail change deals with the internationalization of retailing, the development of shopping centres in the city and at suburban sites, and the growth of leisure shopping. It provides an up-to-date review of the central questions faced by undergraduate students in planning, business studies and geography. The retail environment of developed economies has undergone revolutionary change since the 1970s, and the process is far from over. In the book the major elements central to contemporary retail change are developed across the whole spectrum of spatial scales relevant to present-day society. The first part adopts an economic perspective and focuses on the process of business concentration and its increasingly international orientation. This is followed by analyses of change in the urban region, concentrating on the emergence of the great variety of new retail forms associated with retail decentralization. The planning implications of retail change are developed in the third part. The future of the city-centre and other traditional shopping centres is examined in the light of challenges presented by new facilities. Alternative future scenarios contingent upon laisser-faire or interventionist government policy controls are also discussed. The social implications of retail change are developed in the final section. All students and researchers concerned with the evolution and development of the retail sector of advanced economies will welcome this book as an authoritative source of contemporary findings and commentary. Rosemary D. Bromley and Colin J. Thomas are Lecturers in Geography at the University College of Swansea, Wales.. This book is intended for undergraduate students taking courses in economic geography and retailing in departments of geography, business studies, planning, etc.

The economic, social and environmental implications of recent changes in retailing constitute significant contemporary issues, which are the focus of this timely book. Retail change deals with the internationalization of retailing, the development of shopping centres in the city and at suburban sites, and the growth of leisure shopping. It provides an up-to-date review of the central questions faced by undergraduate students in planning, business studies and geography. The retail environment of developed economies has undergone revolutionary change since the 1970s, and the process is far from over. In the book the major elements central to contemporary retail change are developed across the whole spectrum of spatial scales relevant to present-day society. The first part adopts an economic perspective and focuses on the process of business concentration and its increasingly international orientation. This is followed by analyses of change in the urban region, concentrating on the emergence of the great variety of new retail forms associated with retail decentralization. The planning implications of retail change are developed in the third part. The future of the city-centre and other traditional shopping centres is examined in the light of challenges presented by new facilities. Alternative future scenarios contingent upon laisser-faire or interventionist government policy controls are also discussed. The social implications of retail change are developed in the final section. All students and researchers concerned with the evolution and development of the retail sector of advanced economies will welcome this book as an authoritative source of contemporary findings and commentary. Rosemary D. Bromley and Colin J. Thomas are Lecturers in Geography at the University College of Swansea, Wales.. This book is intended for undergraduate students taking courses in economic geography and retailing in departments of geography, business studies, planning, etc.

In Retail and Social Change Steven Miles, presents a cross-disciplinary analysis of the evolution of retail and how in both its material and virtual guises it has come to reframe our relationship with the social world. Retail has become increasingly influential in homogenising the urban experience. And yet in reacting to trends in virtual consumption retailers are also becoming more and more conscious of the need to engage with consumers in more sophisticated ways. Retail and Social Change will interest students and scholars in geography, cultural studies, sociology, marketing and business studies interested in how and why retail pervades both our physical and emotional lives in increasingly unexpected ways. It will provide a lively, comparative and thought-provoking contribution that interrogates the implications of retail change, for what it means to be a citizen of a consumer society in the twenty-first century.

The modern retail system has worked to dazzling effect. From the 19th century, store owners emerged from small beginnings to set in train an industry that has seen some operators become nationally, even globally, dominant. Along the way, they turned retailing into an art, and then a science. Now retailers in emerging markets appear to be repeating the story all over again, except on a scale and at a speed beyond anything we have seen before. Given all of this, it can be hard for those who work in retailing to accept that the industry as we know it is living on borrowed time, on the brink of transformation. There is now an urgency with which conventional store-based retailers must now act and the extent of the challenges this change represents in strategic, organizational, and above all, technological terms. Reshaping Retail sets out the driving causes, current trends and consequences of a transformation in retail triggered by technology. The changes go far beyond making items available for sale on the internet. Starting by briefly setting the historical and business system contexts for retail and describe the role that technology has played in the creation of modern retail it then explains the underlying technological drivers behind the current revolution – radical changes in the capacity of both hardware and software, mobile telecommunications changes and the advances of the Internet. Ultimately, success will hinge on more than competence; it will come down to a way of thinking. Customer-centricity will need to be valued not just by the store owner, as in the past, but also by all employees in the organization. It will need to become embedded in their daily tasks. The same applies to technology, which must be at the center of the organization and recognized as such by everyone. With a combination of extensive desk and field research, interviews with leading retailers and technologists, together with the real world experience of practitioners in this area, Reshaping Retail will inspire and help store retailers to make the necessary transformation now to win in the new consumer driven world.

Almost weekly, the news is full of stories about disappearing retail chains. From House of Fraser and BHS to Toys'R'Us and Sears, recognised names are vanishing overnight – as such large organizations disappear, so the malls, shopping centres, high streets and main streets become emptier and less appealing to visit. The retail sector is hugely important in terms of job numbers: in the US, it employs around 30 million people (directly and indirectly); in the UK, around 10 million. As such, anything that jeopardises the retail sector will have a deep and lasting impact on millions of lives, as well as on public policy. While many blame the 'Amazon effect', this is an oversimplification. Deeper forces are at work that are changing people's relationships with brands, the balance of power between producers and consumers, and the whole nature of the supply chain that has existed since the industrial revolution. Retail Therapy offers a comprehensive analysis of these forces and their impact on the world of retailing. More importantly, it presents a cogent analysis of the longer term trends that are shaping retailing, and outlines a clear road map for sustainable success in the future.