What Retail Economics does

Retail Economics is an independent UK economics research consultancy that sells subscription-based retail intelligence and bespoke thought-leadership research to enterprise clients. Its core product is a tiered annual membership (Comprehensive £2.5K, Professional £5K, Enterprise £9K, plus a £2K/month Project tier) that delivers 14+ monthly reports covering UK retail sales, online retail, retail inflation, consumer trends, macroeconomic briefings, sector outlooks, and an Executive summary, supported by a proprietary data platform of 200+ interactive time series with up to 10 years of history. Seven sector-specific reports cover Food & Grocery, Clothing & Footwear, Homewares, Furniture & Flooring, DIY & Gardening, Electricals, and Health & Beauty, with bolt-on services including a Cost of Living Tracker and quarterly Shopper Sentiment Surveys.

Beyond subscriptions, Retail Economics runs an end-to-end thought-leadership consultancy that pairs with major brands (Barclays, TikTok, DHL Supply Chain, American Express, Voyado, FreedomPay, Metapack) to produce co-branded research reports, with distribution amplified through the firm's high-profile media presence on BBC, Sky News, CNBC, ITV, CNN, FT, Bloomberg, and The Times. The firm employs roughly 20+ named staff led by CEO Richard Lim (ex-British Retail Consortium, ex-Citi M&A), Chairman Stephen Robertson (ex-B&Q, Screwfix chair), and Chief Economist Stuart Parkinson (ex-Deutsche Bank COO Research). Revenue mixes recurring subscription income with project-based consultancy, delivered via a hybrid sales-led enterprise motion for large accounts and a self-serve 30-day free trial for SMB and individual buyers.

Name

Retail Economics

Legal name

Retail Economics Limited

Website

https://retaileconomics.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Retail Economics is a London-based independent economics research consultancy selling subscription retail intelligence reports and bespoke co-branded thought-leadership research to UK enterprise clients across retail, financial services, and property.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Market Research and Economic Intelligence

NAICS

Retail Trade (44-45)

SIC

Retail-Nonstore Retailers (5960)

akta.pro primary industry

General Merchandise Online Retailers (CRAFADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Grocery & Pantry Inventory-led Online Retailers (CRAFADAF)

Keywords

• Retail market research
• Economic forecasting
• Consumer insights
• Retail intelligence platform
• Thought leadership research

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscription Membership: Annual membership providing access to monthly retail reports, economic data, video library, presentations, and bolt-on services. Tiers range from Comprehensive (£2.5K) to Professional (£5K) to Enterprise (£9K) per annum with varying report access, user accounts, and service levels.
2. Individual Report Sales: Single report purchases available for non-members seeking specific retail insights. Reports cover economic retail, sector analysis, and thought leadership topics.
3. Thought Leadership Consultancy: End-to-end thought leadership research service for brands seeking industry positioning. Includes ideation, generation, collateral creation, media activation, and influence campaigns. Five-step process from concept to campaign success.
4. Advisory & Business Planning: Strategic consultancy services leveraging industry expertise, insights, and proprietary data for evidence-based planning, risk assessment, and opportunity identification.
5. Economic Modelling: Credible research using robust econometric modelling, forecasting, and market sizing for market understanding, customer segmentation, and regulatory impact analysis.
6. Events & Webinar Support: Technical webinar planning, moderation, panel debates, and keynote speaker services including CEO Richard Lim and Chairman Stephen Robertson.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Retail Economics operates a subscription-based retail intelligence platform delivering monthly economic retail reports (UK Retail Sales, UK Online Retail, UK Retail Inflation, UK Consumer, UK Retail Economic Briefing, UK Retail Industry Outlook, Executive), seven retail sector reports, and proprietary time-series data on UK retail sales, online penetration, inflation, and consumer spending. Beyond subscriptions, the company offers end-to-end thought leadership research, economic modelling, advisory and business planning, international trade analysis, data benchmarking, PR/media/comms support, and events and webinar services to UK retailers, banks, property firms, legal firms, and media companies.

Product overview

Retail Economics is an independent economics research consultancy offering a subscription-based retail intelligence platform. The core offering consists of monthly economic retail reports (UK Retail Sales, UK Online Retail, UK Retail Inflation, UK Consumer, UK Retail Economic Briefing, UK Retail Industry Outlook, Executive Report) and seven retail sector reports covering Food & Grocery, Clothing & Footwear, Homewares, Furniture & Flooring, DIY & Gardening, Electricals, and Health & Beauty. These are delivered through tiered membership packages (Comprehensive £2.5K, Professional £5K, Enterprise £9K, Project £2K/month) with bolt-on services including the Cost of Living Tracker, Shopper Sentiment Surveys, and Thought Leadership Report Library. The platform also includes supplementary content products including Express Reports (Sector Snapshot, Economic Chartbooks), Retail Roundup newsletter, Video Library, and Presentations. Beyond subscriptions, Retail Economics offers consultancy services including Thought Leadership Research, Economic Modelling, Advisory & Business Planning, International Trade Service, Data & Benchmarking, PR/Media/Comms, Events & Webinar Support, and COVID-19 analysis.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retail Economics Annual Membership Service

Quantifiable outcome

• 88% of TikTok users discover brands on platform - Retail Economics/TikTok research shows social commerce projected to reach £15.7 billion by 2028
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and secondary.

• BarclaysflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 June 2026Multi-year partnership producing joint research on retail resilience, international shopping platforms, and cybersecurity risks. Published 'Retail resilience in 2025' report and research on £4.7bn UK consumer spending on ultra-low-cost international platforms. Barclays serves as a trusted client while co-branding thought leadership reports.
• American ExpresscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 June 2026Research on social media driving 1.7 billion annual visits to UK high streets. Found 63% of UK adults visited shops after social media influence, rising to 88% among Gen Z. Identified 'viral pilgrimage' economy where consumers travel to experience trending products.
• MetapackcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 June 2026Annual 'Ecommerce Delivery Benchmark Report' providing 2026 benchmark of ecommerce delivery performance across UK retail. Research highlights AI reshaping ecommerce discovery, delivery, and retail strategy with insights on basket abandonment and delivery challenges.
• DataDomesecondaryTechnology or Integration · 7 April 2026Panel participation in 'Future of Search & Discovery: Understanding Agentic Commerce' webinar revealing 73% of consumers use AI assistants for product discovery with nearly 40% using AI for actual shopping tasks. DataDome provided bot traffic and AI detection expertise.
• BotifysecondaryTechnology or Integration · 7 April 2026Webinar panel on agentic commerce addressing challenges including AI bot traffic increasing 5.4x in 2025. Botify contributed expertise on SEO and organic search optimization for AI agent discovery.
• AWSsecondaryTechnology or Integration · 7 April 2026Webinar panel on agentic commerce. AWS contributed cloud infrastructure and AI services expertise for research on how AI agents reshape search and discovery in retail.
• VoyadocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 March 2026European retail AI study revealing gap between strategic ambition and practical AI implementation. Found 95% of retailers experimented with AI but only 5% see clear ROI. Researched AI maturity by region, role, and organizational readiness for European retailers.
• StatistasecondaryOthers · 31 March 2026Data licensing partnership providing consumer AI shopping behavior data across US, UK, and France markets. Statista distributes Retail Economics research on chat-based AI tool usage for shopping as of November 2025.
• DHL Supply ChaincoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 March 2026Research titled 'The Availability Effect' revealing product availability has overtaken price as loyalty driver for one in three UK grocery shoppers. Found £2.1bn in displaced sales annually from stock gaps with 44% of consumers switching stores due to availability issues.
• ShipStationsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 February 2026Ecommerce Delivery Benchmark Report 2026 highlighting surge in AI investments among global retailers. Found 90% of retailers plan increased AI spending within 12-24 months driven by consumer demands for faster delivery and operational efficiency.
• CCS McLayssecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 February 2026Report on £276 million hidden cost savings opportunity in UK fashion retail related to Goods Not for Resale (GNFR). Research indicates improving GNFR management could boost sector profits by over 8% without expanding stores or staff.
• FreedomPaycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 January 2026Ongoing partnership producing payment resilience research including US study ($44.4B at risk), UK study (£1.7bn at risk), German study (€2B at risk), and French study (€1.9B at risk). Research on payment system outages, consumer tolerance, and resilience strategies.
• DynatracecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 January 2026Partnership with Dynatrace (NYSE: DT) on payment system failure research. Studied $44.4 billion annual sales at risk in US retail and hospitality. Found average outage lasts two hours with 63% occurring during peak trading hours.
• Eversheds SutherlandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 December 2025Collaboration on AI investment research among UK retailers. Report forecasts 74.8% of UK retailers plan to ramp up AI spending over five years. Projected sales per employee growth from AI integration accelerating from 4-6% to 6-9% annually.
• Eversheds SutherlandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 December 2025Joint report 'Retail Workforce Reimagined' exploring how AI reshapes retail workforce across France, Germany, UAE, UK, and US. Covers evolution, drivers, and application of AI in retail with strategic considerations for AI-ready workplaces.
• VoyadocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 November 2025AI in retail report highlighting contrast between high AI usage (95%) and low ROI (5%) among European retailers. Report explores AI maturity levels by region and organizational readiness for scaling AI beyond individual use cases.
• ZühlkesecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 November 2025Report 'Adapt now or disappear: Digital maturity in European retail' exploring how retailers redesign operating models, technology, and culture to drive resilience. Examined digital capabilities shaping retail leaders.
• FirstsourcesecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 May 2025Research on 'Agentic commerce: The new test of trust and loyalty' exploring how AI-enabled commerce reshapes trust, loyalty, and retail performance. Study examined consumer behavior shifts in AI-mediated shopping journeys.
• beBettorsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 January 2025Research partnership on customer segmentation revealing four in five retailers recognize segmentation importance but only 60% consider their capabilities sophisticated. Largest gap between importance and execution across all major data applications.
• TikTokflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Joint research on UK social commerce market projecting £15.7 billion in sales by 2028 at 21.2% annual growth rate. Research found 88% of TikTok users discover brands on platform, 69% purchased after seeing social content, and 56% made direct purchases through social platforms.

Scale indicators20 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Coresight Research: US-headquartered retail and technology research firm publishing free and subscription research on retail disruption, e-commerce, and consumer trends. Direct competitor for the thought-leadership and advisory mandate with international retailers and brands.
• Mintel: Global market research firm publishing consumer and retail category reports, trend analysis, and shopper insights. Direct competitor for the retailer and brand consultancy spend that Retail Economics targets.
• Retail Week: UK retail media, events, and research business owned by Ascential. Overlaps on retail sector intelligence, events, and content subscriptions, and is also a competitor for the same blue-chip retailer and brand audience.
• GlobalData Retail: London-headquartered research and data provider covering retail, consumer, and apparel markets. Closest direct peer — competes head-to-head with subscription-based retail intelligence, market sizing, and forecasts across the same UK and European client base.
• IMRG: UK online retail trade association and benchmarking platform producing the IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index. Direct peer on UK online retail sales tracking, sector growth measurement, and benchmarking used by retail subscribers.
• Edited: Retail data and analytics platform providing real-time market, pricing, and competitor intelligence to fashion and apparel retailers. Comparable on the data-and-benchmarking subscription wedge, particularly with the UK retail category reports.
• Springboard: UK retail footfall and high street performance data provider. Direct UK-only peer competing for the same retailer, landlord, and property company budgets with shopper-traffic intelligence.

Broad incumbents

• Circana (formerly IRI): Large-scale retail measurement and consumer insights provider offering market share, POS, and shopper data. A broader incumbent that competes on the data-and-benchmarking side of Retail Economics' offering.
• NielsenIQ: Global retail measurement, consumer intelligence, and e-commerce data provider. Broader incumbent that overlaps on market share data, retail forecasts, and consumer spending analysis.
• Kantar: Global data, insights, and consultancy group with a strong UK Worldpanel retail division. Competes with Retail Economics on shopper insight, retail measurement, and strategic advisory for FMCG and retail clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/retaileconomics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/retail-economics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Retail Economics