Centre for Retail Research

What Centre for Retail Research does

Centre for Retail Research (CRR, legal entity The Centre for Retail Research Limited) is a privately held, independent research organization founded in 1998 and headquartered in Norwich, England. It provides authoritative analysis of retail and service sectors across Britain, Europe, and North America, covering retail crisis and failure tracking, online and mobile retail statistics, retail crime costs, high street and business rates analysis, and the retail impact of celebrations (Christmas, royal events, sporting tournaments). The firm is explicitly independent and not funded by the retail sector or suppliers, which underpins its stated objectivity.

CRR's core output is a portfolio of research reports and data products rather than a software platform. Its product set includes the Who's Gone Bust retail failure database (tracking UK retail company failures since 2007), the Global Retail Theft Barometer (which it ran for eleven years), Online and Mobile Retailing statistics, Crime Comparisons across eight countries, Christmas and Royal Events spending studies, the UK Generosity Survey, Retail Price Index, Retail Forecast, and Store of the Future research. The underlying methodology combines large-scale consumer surveys (e.g., 5,500 shoppers per country) with retailer interviews accounting for 20%+ of retail sales, and the firm has surveyed 328 retailers across 8 countries covering 48,000 stores.

The business model is B2B research services delivered to retail stakeholders, including retailers, retail associations, government bodies (UK Home Office), and media organizations. The go-to-market is primarily content-driven via the retailresearch.org website, blog, and direct contact, with citations in tier-1 media (CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Times) providing organic distribution. Revenue is generated through commissioned research (e.g., VoucherCodes.com's £3,430m Euro 2020 spending study) and likely report subscriptions or licensing, though pricing is not publicly disclosed. The firm holds an ICO registration (Z996967X) and is GDPR-compliant.

Name

Centre for Retail Research

Legal name

The Centre for Retail Research Limited

Website

https://www.retailresearch.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Centre for Retail Research is an independent UK-based research firm founded in 1998 that provides authoritative analysis of the retail and service sectors across Britain, Europe, and North America, serving retailers, trade associations, government, and media.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Market Research

akta.pro primary industry

Shopper & Retail Insights (In-Store/Path-to-Purchase, Category Insights) (MPAAALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB), Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE), Market, Shopper & Category Insights / Research Services (CRAOAOAI)

Keywords

• Retail market research
• Retail sector analysis
• Retail crime research
• Retail trend forecasting
• Consumer retail data

Headquarters

HQ city

Norwich

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

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Centre for Retail Research is an independent research organisation that produces authoritative analysis, reports and data on the retail and service sectors in Britain, Europe and North America. Its core deliverables include retail failure tracking (Who's Gone Bust), retail crime cost studies, online and mobile retail statistics, retail celebration spending studies, and high street / business rates research, sold to businesses, trade associations, government bodies and media organisations.

Product overview

Centre for Retail Research is a research organization providing authoritative analysis of the retail and service sectors in Britain, Europe and globally for over twenty-five years. It is completely independent and not funded by the retail sector or suppliers. The organization offers a portfolio of research products including retail failure tracking (Who's Gone Bust), retail crime cost analysis, online and mobile retail statistics, retail impact studies for royal events and sporting events, Christmas shopping analysis, and business rates/high street research. These are delivered as reports and data published on their website rather than as a software product or platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retail Research Reports (Core Subscription) Authoritative research and analysis of retail and service sectors in Britain, Europe and globally, covering retail crisis, closures, job losses, high street analysis, e-commerce, mobile retail, store of the future, retail price index and retail forecast. Sold to retail businesses, trade associations, government bodies and media organisations.
• Who's Gone Bust - Retail Failure Tracking Continuous tracking and analysis of UK retail company failures, store closures and employee impacts from 2007 to present, delivered as a dedicated research product on the CRR website.
• Retail Crime Costs Analysis (UK, US and Europe) Comprehensive analysis of retail crime costs across the UK, US and Europe, including shrinkage rates, organized retail crime (ORC), employee theft, supplier fraud and cybercrime. Based on 328 retailers surveyed across 8 countries covering 48,000 stores.
• Online Retail Statistics Statistics and analysis of online retail trends in the UK, Europe and North America, including e-commerce sales totals, market shares and mobile commerce data, delivered through reports on the CRR website.
• Mobile Retailing Analysis Analysis of mobile retailing trends, smartphone and tablet shopping behaviour and mobile payment adoption across Western Europe, delivered as a dedicated research stream on the CRR website.
• Royal Events Retail Impact Studies Estimates of UK retail spending impacts from royal celebrations including coronations, jubilees, weddings and births, delivered as commissioned event-impact research.
• Sports and Shopping Analysis Analysis of retail spending impacts from major sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and European Championships, including funded study on Euro 2020 spend of £3,430m (£2,615m retailing, £815m hospitality) for VoucherCodes.com.
• Christmas Shopping Research Annual and seasonal analysis of UK retail sales during Christmas periods, including online versus offline sales trends and category performance.
• Business Rates and High Street Analysis Analysis of UK business rates impact on the retail sector and proposals for tax reform, supporting policy and lobbying stakeholders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Surveyed 328 retailers across 8 countries covering 48,000 stores for crime comparisons
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Project Pegasus (Police-Retailer Partnership)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Project Pegasus is a collaborative Police-Retailer partnership funded in 2023 by major retailers including Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury's, John Lewis, B&Q, Next, the Co-op, T J Maxx and Primark with contributions of £840,000. The initiative identifies habitual thieves and organized retail crime by running CCTV footage through Police computers to identify prolific offenders.
• VoucherCodes.comminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018VoucherCodes.com funded CRR research on retail spending during Euro 2020, providing estimates of £3,430m in increased spending (£2,615m in retailing and £815m in hospitality).
• National Business Crime Solution (NBCS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBCS is a not-for-profit partnership that gathers crime and offender data and shares information across the public and private sectors to identify crime trends and prolific offenders and reduce business crime. They are involved in Project Pegasus.
• Mitie (Security Contractor)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe private security industry is involved in Project Pegasus, with security-contractor Mitie participating in the programme alongside NBCS.
• Home OfficeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRR worked with the Home Office to help develop their surveys of retail crime. The Home Office Crime Against Business 2018 report is referenced in CRR's methodology.
• British Retail ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRR has worked with the British Retail Consortium at some time to help develop their surveys of retail crime, and references their Retail Crime Survey 2018.
• Association of Convenience StoresminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRR has worked with the Association of Convenience Stores to help develop their Crime Report surveys.
• SensormaticminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRR references Sensormatic's Global Shrink Index in their methodology for retail crime analysis.
• Checkpoint SystemsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRR references Checkpoint's Global Retail Theft Barometer in their methodology for retail crime analysis. CRR ran the Global Retail Theft Barometer for eleven years.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Retail Economics: UK-based retail research and economic analysis firm providing retail performance data, forecasts and high street studies. Directly comparable to CRR in scope (UK/EU), customer base (retailers and stakeholders) and product (sector intelligence).
• Springboard Retail and Hospitality Research: Specialist UK research firm measuring retail footfall, sales and high street performance using proprietary panel data. Closely comparable in customer base (retailers, property, government) and methodology (panel-based retail measurement).
• IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution): UK-based research and training organization serving the grocery and consumer goods industry with sector data and insights. Comparable in research-and-insights model, retail/grocery vertical focus and UK base.
• Local Data Company: UK retail intelligence provider tracking high streets, retail openings/closures and occupancy. Closely comparable to CRR's Who's Gone Bust product and serves the same UK retail-property and retailer buyer base.

Broad incumbents

• Mintel: Global market research firm covering consumer products, retail and innovation trends. Wider portfolio than CRR but operates adjacent research-and-insights model serving similar retail CPG and stakeholder buyers.
• Euromonitor International: Global market research firm providing syndicated data across industries including retail and consumer goods. Comparable in providing independent industry research, but at far greater scale and broader product set than CRR.
• GlobalData: Large data and analytics provider with dedicated retail and consumer themes. Overlaps with CRR on consumer/retail sector intelligence but covers a much broader industry footprint with subscription data products.
• NielsenIQ: Global consumer measurement and retail analytics firm covering FMCG, e-commerce and shopper behaviour. Much larger scale than CRR, but competes for the same retail insights and shopper research budgets.

Others

• British Retail Consortium: UK retail trade association that publishes its own Retail Crime Survey and sector data. Not a competitor in research delivery but an adjacent ecosystem partner whose Crime Survey methodology CRR has helped shape.

Emerging players

• Center for Retail Compliance: US-based research and training organization covering retail loss prevention, compliance and ORC. Smaller niche overlap with CRR's retail crime franchise, serving similar LP/AP buyers across North America.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/centre-for-retail-research-limited

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Centre for Retail Research