United Kingdom

The global recession of 2020 was milder than expected with global real GDP in 2020 contracting by 3.6%. The global economic outlook has substantially improved since the end of 2020. Global real GDP growth in 2021 is expected to be 5.3%. The global ...

The United Kingdom (UK) suffered one of the worst economic contractions in Western Europe over 2020, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit uncertainty. Output is expected to bounce back in the second half of 2021, driven by economic stimulus ...

Self-service cafeterias are mainly located in places such as department stores, home and garden retailers and grocery stores in the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic and safety restrictions impacted certain retail channels very differently. Non-grocery ...

The government-imposed national and regional lockdowns, which lasted for at least four months in 2020, had a negative impact on the operation of the foodservice industry. Foodservice outlets, including limited-service restaurants, were required to ...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the months of national and regional lockdowns, full-service restaurants tried hard to adapt to the overnight changes in operational restrictions, customers’ needs and the new lockdown lifestyle. Although the ...

Although foodservice sales through standalone retained the biggest share of all foodservice sales, the share of foodservice sales through retail registered growth in 2020. Grocery retailers were classified as “essential retail” and were allowed to ...

Cafés/bars was the category the most severely impacted by the pandemic, with its value sales size halving in 2020. The strong pub culture in the UK was not only interrupted by the national and reginal lockdowns, but by further safety restrictions in ...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government imposed national lockdowns, which lasted for more than four months in 2020. During the lockdowns, the consumer foodservice industry was not allowed to offer an eat-in service, which negatively ...

The COVID-19 guidelines restricting the operation of the foodservice industry, as well as the enhanced working from home trend, had an immensely negative impact on the performance of street stalls/kiosks in 2020. They are generally found in transport...

The crisis of the high street and the decreasing profits of department stores had an immense, negative impact on the channel’s performance, both in terms of value sales and store numbers towards the end of the review period. Multiple leading ...

The UK Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic included placing the country in lockdown three times during 2020, for a combined period of more than four months, during which consumers were advised to stay at home. All but essential retailers ...

As local consumers spent most of their time at home during the first national lockdown in the spring season, new trends emerged in the UK, with citizens turning to gardening or DIY and home renovation as forms of entertainment. In addition, the ...

Hypermarkets had been reaching greater levels of maturity over the review period in terms of sales to record minimal year-on-year growth. However, the stockpiling trend driven by the pandemic-lockdown in early 2020 positively impacted the channel’s ...

In previous years, coffee-on-the go was a key driver of vending sales in the UK. Many coffee vending machines are located in crowded transportation hubs or workplace sites, which experienced an extreme drop in footfall during the months of lockdown, ...

The British high street had already been facing multiple challenges prior to the emergence of COVID-19 as a result of low consumer confidence; this was driven by economic uncertainties around Brexit and the high costs of labour and rent. The pandemic...

Although e-commerce in the UK was already considered to be well established over the review period, current value sales skyrocketed in 2020 due to the heavy reliance on online purchases during the pandemic. The primary growth driver was the ...

Variety stores had been negatively impacted towards the end of the review period by difficulties of the retailing environment, such as inflating rent and weakening consumer confidence. However, the pandemic, and more importantly, the classification ...

Being classified as essential retailers, warehouse clubs were therefore entitled to remain open during the lockdown months. As a result, the channel was amongst one of the least impacted mixed retailers in terms of value sales growth. Warehouse ...

Demand for groceries boomed in the UK during the initial national lockdown, driven by stockpiling of long-lasting products such as dried pasta, rice, flour in addition to essential non-grocery products such as toilet paper. Although the channel had ...

Convenience stores was among the very few retail channels to be positively impacted by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many consumers turned to online grocery shopping, demand for in-store grocery purchases hit a record high as a ...