Why Retailers Run into Trouble

As the Centre for Retail Research chronicles, retail stores continue to go into administration. Because stores are part of our daily lives, retailer problems receive media attention all the time--including lists of retailers in trouble (like this one from BBC News) and analyses of high-street retail vacancies (like this one in the Guardian).

From Comet to Blockbuster, Phones4U and beyond, some UK retailers have run into trouble from a variety of challenges related to changes in the marketing environment, including:

• Economic conditions
• New consumer tastes
• New shopper behavior
• Population shifts 
• Industry consolidation
• Management issues
• Financial woes 
• Technology 

Increasingly, retailers are looking to multichannel marketing as a key to attracting new customers and retaining existing customers who enjoy shopping via tablet or mobile, not just in a high-street store.