Digital innovation helped axe 62,000 retail jobs in 2016

Digital innovation and the rise of online is said to have affected 62,000 jobs in the UK retail sector last year, according to new research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS reported that employment within the UK retail sector declined by 62,000 last year, as stores and outlets across the nation saw a 2.2 percent dip in headcount. This drop, fuelled by the collapse of BHS among other retailers, is more than any other sector as most saw a significant increase in their headcount, reported the Telegraph.

The chief executive of Retail Economics, Richard Lim, claimed that an increased focus on digital and omni-channel retailing is another reason why employment numbers dropped. "High street retailers’ real growth area is online, so they are looking at whether they need so many stores and in many cases, they are cutting back," said Lim to the Telegraph.

"Retailers are also having to adapt to consumers’ growing expectations of convenience, which has meant they have had to switch investment from stores to their online operations to cope with changing shopping habits." In addition, Lim added that many retailers have cut back so much from their operational cost base, that increases from the National Living Wage and the pinch in labour costs have led to many retailers opting to cut back on the number of staff in favour of introducing new technology.

"As the cost of operating a retail business continues to rise, they will look at implementing other technological innovations to strip back costs even further," concluded Lim.

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