Retailers to face challenging 2013

Despite steady growth in retail sales this year, the latest research from Euromonitor International reveals that the industry is set to face a challenging year ahead.

Retails will need to tackle several key challenges, beginning with the impact of continued inflationary pressures and rising food prices. According to Euromonitor, this has lead consumers to seek out bargains elsewhere, placing pressure on retailers' profits. Meanwhile, retailers continue to face competition from online sales, with the channel generating sales of over half a trillion dollar sales this year alone.

There is also increasing integration between e-tail and retail, reinforcing the need to support online efforts with an offline presence. E-commerce giant Amazon recently formed several new partnerships to build its presence on the high street, joining forces with convenience stores and grocery retailers such as 7-Eleven in the US and Co-Op in the UK, to host Amazon lockers or handle deliveries and returns of online purchases.

In the UK, it has also joined Collect+, a network of over 5,000 independent retailers, offering delivery services and returns to and from stores.