UK Retail Industry: Statistical Analysis and Employability Skills

This report provides an analysis of workplace employability skills within the retail sector, focusing on the UK market. It includes a statistical analysis of retail sales and workforce distribution across the UK, highlighting the growth in online retail and the impact of events like Christmas on sales volumes. The report identifies key graduate skills preferred in the retail industry, such as commercial awareness, innovation, leadership, adaptability, and communication. It concludes that the retail industry offers numerous job opportunities for graduates and emphasizes the importance of developing relevant soft skills. The report recommends that students research job opportunities, analyze industry statistics, and focus on improving their soft skills to enhance their employability in the retail sector. Desklib provides access to this and other student-contributed assignments.

Workplace Employability
Skills

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Statistical analysis........................................................................................................................1
Understanding of graduate skills required...................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Retail refers to sale of products or services to consumers which is emerging as one of the
fastest growing industry in recent times. In an economy, the extent of production is usually high
and its wealth is reflected through its consumption. It comprises of sale of commodity from a
point of purchase directly to consumers who demand it. Retail industry heavily relies on
marketing and promotional activities that facilitates fast communication from sellers to buyers.
Convenience stores, departmental stores, supermarkets and discount stores are some of the
models came under retail industry which facilitates transformation of goods to end consumer
(Griffin and Coelhoso, 2018). This report will cover the statistics analysis and the preferred skills
from graduates for retail industry.
Statistical analysis
Retail industry in UK is leading sector as it has seen high growth in recent timees. It
provides job to almost three million people and meet customer day to day demands. In 2020,
online retail sales in UK hikes by 20 billion pounds which represent the importance of this
industry (Smith, 2022)
1

( Source: Retail sales, Great Britain, 2021 )
The above statistics shows that retail volume increases by 1.4% in November 2021 which
represents the hike in usage of consumer goods by buyers. From pre corona period it has hiked
by 7.2%. Even the non-food sales stores grows by 2%, clothing stores by 2.9% and toy or
jewellery stores by 2.8% which is the result of Christmas. The degree of retail sales online
minimises to 26.9% in November 2021 presenting its lowest fall since March 2020 and this
falling trend continues since early 2022. Clothing stores surpasses their pre COVID level for first
time where sales degree rose by 3.2%. Household products sales rises by 1.2% and departmental
stores sales decreases by 0.2% in one month.
2
Illustration 1: Retail sales, Great Britain, 2021

(Source: Workforce jobs in the wholesale and retail trade sector in the United Kingdom
(UK) as of June 2021, by region)
As per above statistics, across UK the workforce in retail industry is accumulated in
London and South East where around 600 thousand people work in this industry. There are great
opportunities in retail industry for freshly graduate students. They can look out for jobs in this
sector by taking internship or by adopting skills needed in this industry. There are almost 3 lakhs
separate business in retail industry which provides 8% of all UK employment. The scope of job
opportunities in retail industry is very high as it provides employment easily and quickly.
Individuals can also take entrepreneurial opportunity in this sector as it is an always growing
industry and will yield excellent results in future.
Understanding of graduate skills required
There are number of skills required from an individual looking to make career in retail
industry. It does not require many university qualifications as minimum graduation is enough to
3
Illustration 2: Workforce jobs in the wholesale and retail trade sector in the United
Kingdom (UK) as of June 2021, by region

enter in retail sector. But as the industry grows, demand for skilled and qualified workforce
arises where people with degrees get more opportunities and preference. Preferred graduate skills
required in retail industry are as follows: Commercial awareness- An individual must be aware of products or services used
commercially to encourage consumers to buy them (Suleman, 2018). It is important for
them to understand commodities they promote in order to successfully sell them. Innovative- A person should have an ability to come up with creative and innovative
ideas to increase the sales. They should have passion for retail which will facilitate them
to implement new ideas in business. Leadership skill- If an individual want to pursue managerial role in retail industry, they
must adopt leadership skills to effectively lead and motivate a group of people in
direction of achieving organisational goals. Adaptability- A person must have skill of adaptability and flexibility to be able to cope
up with ups and downs of retail industry (Yoto, Suyetno and Tjiptady, 2020). In this way,
they can transform threats or risks into future opportunities.
 Communication skill- To become a successful employee in retail industry, one must
have excellent communication skill as this sector involves high interaction with
consumers of different mind-sets.
CONCLUSION
As per the information presented above it has been concluded that retail industry is one of
the emerging sector which provides enormous job opportunities to large number of people. It
bridges the gap between producers and consumers by acting as intermediary’s between them.
After COVID-19, this industry has seen great rise in its sales prospects which resulted in created
number of job opportunities for both fresher’s and experienced people. Freshly graduate students
can apply for job in this sector as it does not require many qualifications and also does not need
heavy set skills. Marketing, communication, innovative, flexibility etc. are some of the soft skills
required to be a good retailer.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended to freshly graduate students to properly research about the job
opportunities in retail industry and to analyse whether they want to be part of it or not. They can
4

look out after last five years’ statistics of big retail companies to understand the ups and downs,
opportunities or threats presented in retail sector. Students must work on their soft skills required
in retail business to stand out in number of people who applied for same job. They can also take
on various classes or internships programme that provides information about how to make
successful career in retail industry.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Griffin, M. and Coelhoso, P., 2018. Business students’ perspectives on employability skills post
internship experience: lessons from the UAE. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based
Learning.
Hains-Wesson, R. and Ji, K., 2020. Students’ perceptions of an interdisciplinary global study
tour: uncovering inexplicit employability skills. Higher Education Research &
Development. 39(4). pp.657-671.
Singh, S., 2019. Building Employability Skills in English as a Second Language (ESL)
Classroom in India. English Teacher. 48(2).
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into
conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education. 76(2). pp.263-
278.
Yoto, Y., Suyetno, A. and Tjiptady, B. C., 2020, September. Teachers Internship Design To
Improve Students’ Employability Skills In Vocational Education. In 2020 4th
International Conference on Vocational Education and Training (ICOVET) (pp. 1-4).
IEEE.
Online:
Retail sales, Great Britain, 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/
november2021#toc>
Smith. P. 2022. Retail trade in the UK - statistics & facts. 2022.[Online]. Available through:
<https://www.statista.com/topics/8671/retail-trade-in-the-uk/>
Workforce jobs in the wholesale and retail trade sector in the United Kingdom (UK) as of June
2021, by region. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026792/number-of-jobs-in-wholesale-and-retail-
trade-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-by-region/>
6