{"id":163755,"date":"2020-12-22T17:11:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T17:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T12:09:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T12:09:39","slug":"40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/","title":{"rendered":"40,000 retailers now in \"significant distress\" as COVID restrictions take their toll"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 <strong>now say they are in \"significant distress\", a jump of 24% on last year,<\/strong> as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>New figures from Begbies Traynor also show that over <strong>20,000 high street retailers and over 11,500 online retailers are now in \"difficulty\"<\/strong> \u2013 a rise of 22% and 27% respectively since the run-up to Christmas 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the figures, Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: \u201cWithout doubt, this has been one of the toughest years ever experienced in the retail sector. While many industries have been hit hard, <strong>retail \u2013 which was already suffering a crisis of confidence \u2013 has been shaken to its foundations.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\"High-profile administrations such as Arcadia Group and Debenhams not only threaten thousands of jobs, they also <strong>raise questions over the future of the high-street<\/strong> as we know it, and I expect there to be more as we enter the New Year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat said, while COVID-19 has undoubtedly had a huge impact, <strong>the danger signs were there before the pandemic forced so many closures.<\/strong> For example, Arcadia and Debenhams were both already struggling as they had failed to keep up with more dynamic competitors with a strong online offering. However, simply being online is not automatically a \u2018silver bullet\u2019 \u2013 as these figures show, securing market share online is wildly competitive and not everyone will succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Non-essential retail has been <strong>hammered once again with new Tier 4 restrictions hastily applied across London and much of the East and South East<\/strong> of the country this weekend, just over two weeks after stores re-opened following November's lockdown. Wales too has closed its non-essential retail for the foreseeable future, while Scotland and Northern Ireland plan post-Christmas lockdowns.<\/p>\n<p>However Palmer said there was a<strong> \"speck of light at the end of the tunnel\" for 2021<\/strong> with the vaccine now being rolled out. Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed yesterday that some 500,000 vulnerable people and front-line workers had been vaccinated with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, while there is hope that so-called \"Oxford Vaccine\", which is far easier to distribute, will be approved for use over the Christmas period.<\/p>\n<p>But uncertainty would remain throughout 2021, Palmer said, as the <strong>Government has yet to agree a trade deal with the EU<\/strong> for when the Brexit transition period ends in 10 days' time and the effects of the pandemic will be felt for a long time to come.<\/p>\n<p>\"For retail,<strong> some major modernisations and strong leadership will be crucial<\/strong> to entice shoppers back, and even retailers that have proven resilient will need to keep innovating.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough there are increasing expectations that 2021 will bring more positivity, the <strong>effects of COVID-19 will continue to create a chill throughout the whole of the year<\/strong> and beyond, with it likely we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg for financial distress amongst businesses currently.<\/p>\n<p>\"Both recent history and these figures show yet <strong>more high profile retail and hospitality insolvencies are probable<\/strong> as a combination of onerous debt and the structural changes brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":141788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16042,10585,6,10494],"tags":[11120,15616,5707,3514,15617],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>40,000 retailers now in &quot;significant distress&quot; as COVID restrictions take their toll - TheIndustry.fashion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 now say they are in &quot;significant distress&quot;, a jump of 24% on last year, as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"40,000 retailers now in &quot;significant distress&quot; as COVID restrictions take their toll - TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 now say they are in &quot;significant distress&quot;, a jump of 24% on last year, as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-22T17:11:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-06T12:09:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sd2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauretta Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theindustryfash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theindustryfash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauretta Roberts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lauretta Roberts\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/85b04a16eba8c6cd7a9534c5a4262b89\"},\"headline\":\"40,000 retailers now in \\\"significant distress\\\" as COVID restrictions take their toll\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-22T17:11:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-06T12:09:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Arcadia\",\"Begbies Traynor\",\"Covid-19\",\"Debenhams\",\"Julie Palmer\"],\"articleSection\":{\"0\":\"COVID-19\",\"2\":\"Finance\",\"3\":\"News &amp; Insight\",\"4\":\"Retail &amp; Etail\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\",\"name\":\"40,000 retailers now in \\\"significant distress\\\" as COVID restrictions take their toll - TheIndustry.fashion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-22T17:11:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-06T12:09:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 now say they are in \\\"significant distress\\\", a jump of 24% on last year, as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"40,000 retailers now in \\\"significant distress\\\" as COVID restrictions take their toll\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/\",\"name\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\",\"description\":\"Fashion news, insights, podcasts and events for professionals from across the fashion sector.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\",\"name\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png\",\"width\":585,\"height\":217,\"caption\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theindustryfash\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theindustryfashion\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/10970016\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/85b04a16eba8c6cd7a9534c5a4262b89\",\"name\":\"Lauretta Roberts\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0dfd15bd9969aa1cbd9cdc088372e7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0dfd15bd9969aa1cbd9cdc088372e7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lauretta Roberts\"},\"description\":\"Lauretta Roberts is the CEO, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The.Industry.fashion She is also the former director of brand &amp; propositions of trend forecaster WGSN and a former editor of Drapers magazine.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.theindustrylondon.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"40,000 retailers now in \"significant distress\" as COVID restrictions take their toll - TheIndustry.fashion","description":"Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 now say they are in \"significant distress\", a jump of 24% on last year, as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"40,000 retailers now in \"significant distress\" as COVID restrictions take their toll - TheIndustry.fashion","og_description":"Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 now say they are in \"significant distress\", a jump of 24% on last year, as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/","og_site_name":"TheIndustry.fashion","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-22T17:11:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-06T12:09:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sd2-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lauretta Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@theindustryfash","twitter_site":"@theindustryfash","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lauretta Roberts","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/"},"author":{"name":"Lauretta Roberts","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/85b04a16eba8c6cd7a9534c5a4262b89"},"headline":"40,000 retailers now in \"significant distress\" as COVID restrictions take their toll","datePublished":"2020-12-22T17:11:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-06T12:09:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/"},"wordCount":508,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization"},"keywords":["Arcadia","Begbies Traynor","Covid-19","Debenhams","Julie Palmer"],"articleSection":{"0":"COVID-19","2":"Finance","3":"News &amp; Insight","4":"Retail &amp; Etail"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/","name":"40,000 retailers now in \"significant distress\" as COVID restrictions take their toll - TheIndustry.fashion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-22T17:11:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-06T12:09:39+00:00","description":"Some 40,000 retailers in Q4 of 2020 now say they are in \"significant distress\", a jump of 24% on last year, as COVID-19 restrictions batter the sector.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/40000-retailers-now-in-significant-distress-as-covid-restrictions-take-their-toll\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"40,000 retailers now in \"significant distress\" as COVID restrictions take their toll"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/","name":"TheIndustry.fashion","description":"Fashion news, insights, podcasts and events for professionals from across the fashion sector.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization","name":"TheIndustry.fashion","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png","width":585,"height":217,"caption":"TheIndustry.fashion"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/theindustryfash","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theindustryfashion\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/10970016\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/85b04a16eba8c6cd7a9534c5a4262b89","name":"Lauretta Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0dfd15bd9969aa1cbd9cdc088372e7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0dfd15bd9969aa1cbd9cdc088372e7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lauretta Roberts"},"description":"Lauretta Roberts is the CEO, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The.Industry.fashion She is also the former director of brand &amp; propositions of trend forecaster WGSN and a former editor of Drapers magazine.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.theindustrylondon.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}