Working with Cebr, Centre of Economics and Business Research, we surveyed a large number of UK consumers and senior decision makers in the retail industry to find out how they are affected by the cost of living crisis. Consumers are feeling the pinch and therefore changing their shopping behaviour, but can retailers find a way to retain their valuable customers? We take a look at the value rewards programmes bring to each retail sector and whether they are a strong influence on building customer retention. We also forecast how the retail sector will behave in 2027.

Readers of The Constrained Consumer will be able to find exclusive insights into how consumers are reacting to having less spending power, and what new shopping behaviours we are seeing as a result. Readers will also learn more about how retailers are responding to the cost of living and how rewards programmes may play a part in boosting profit. Finally, the outlook of the industry is not looking promising, so how will the retail sector recover, if ever, by 2027?

31% of retailers currently use rewards programmes as a way to boost customer retention, while a further 20% considered rolling out such a scheme over the past 12 months. 6 in 10 consumers believe rewards programmes are relevant to their retail shopping experience. Consumers that use rewards programmes were more likely to state they were now more actively looking for better deals online, seeing a 62.4% share compared to 34.6% of non-rewards users. 84% of the population believe that the behavioural shifts witnessed over the last year will become long-term changes.

Download our report to find out more about how UK consumers responded to our survey and what shopping habits they now have due to the cost of living crunch. Retailers are also finding innovative ways to deal with the pressures of losing profit margin, but will this be sustainable?