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Wadud, I.; Liang, Y.D.; Polkinghorne, M. Digital Transformation in the UK Retail Sector. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/58977 (accessed on 05 December 2025).
Wadud I, Liang YD, Polkinghorne M. Digital Transformation in the UK Retail Sector. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/58977. Accessed December 05, 2025.
Wadud, Ibrahim, Yan Danni Liang, Martyn Polkinghorne. "Digital Transformation in the UK Retail Sector" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/58977 (accessed December 05, 2025).
Wadud, I., Liang, Y.D., & Polkinghorne, M. (2025, September 10). Digital Transformation in the UK Retail Sector. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/58977
Wadud, Ibrahim, et al. "Digital Transformation in the UK Retail Sector." Encyclopedia. Web. 10 September, 2025.
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Digital transformation is the process by which businesses adopt use of digital technologies to fundamentally change operations and customer interactions in order to optimize delivery and service. The UK refers to the United Kingdom which is shorthand for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which is a European country that primarily includes England, Wales and Scotland together with the northern part of Ireland. The retail sector includes businesses that sell goods or services directly to consumers for their personal use, opposed to selling to other organizations for business applications. Generation refers to a series of broad age groups that are considered to demonstrate different generalized characteristics.
digital
transformation
UK
retail
generations
consumer
According to the British Retail Consortium [1], the UK retail sector represents more than 3 million workers and contributes approximately 5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Many sectors, but particularly the retail sector, have been adopting new technologies over recent years to optimize the delivery of goods and services [2]. This process is known as digital transformation.
Digital transformation requires innovation of both business strategy and operational models. Chaffey and Smith [3] argue that a business idea can no longer be simply based on a single channel, i.e., online or offline selling, and that it now needs to incorporate both of these channels seamlessly alongside appropriate digital marketing. This is the new digital age, and the rapid transformation of e-commerce, mobile apps, and social media channels is significantly influencing how consumers evaluate their purchasing decisions [4].
This change in consumer attitudes has brought about the omnichannel retailing experience, in which consumers now expect the same familiarity if they are engaging in an online store compared to the equivalent offline experience [5]. Examples of digital transformation include the introduction of click-and-collect services, the implementation of data-driven marketing strategies, and the provision of self-checkouts to streamline in-store operations.
Whilst digital transformation itself is now vital to ensuring competitiveness across the UK retail sector [2], it is expensive, time consuming, and resource-intensive to implement [6]. Taking a customer perspective, one of the likely challenges faced is that various consumer age groups have distinctly different preferences for, and capabilities to use, new technologies. The concern is that the more we digitize services to support some consumer groups, the more we may alienate others who are less willing, or able, to engage.
To explore the dimensions of this phenomenon further, this paper considers digital transformation in the UK retail sector using an interpretive classification schema as the analytical framework (Figure 1) in which the categories of channels, barriers/challenges, evolving technologies, consumer behavior, generational differences, and consumer acceptance are each considered in turn.
References
- British Retail Consortium. Retail Industry Statistics. Available online: https://www.brc.org.uk (accessed on 7 July 2025).
- Wolniak, R.; Stecuła, K.; Aydın, B. Digital transformation of grocery in-store shopping-scanners, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and beyond: A review. Foods 2024, 13, 2948.
- Chaffey, D.; Smith, P. Digital Marketing Excellence: Planning, Optimizing and Integrating Online Marketing; Routledge: Abingdon, UK, 2022.
- Laudon, K.; Traver, C. E-Commerce 2020–2021: Business, Technology and Society, Global Edition; Pearson: London, UK, 2020.
- Gawor, T.; Hoberg, K. Customers’ valuation of time and convenience in e-fulfillment. Int. J. Phys. Distrib. Logist. Manag. 2019, 49, 75–98.
- Rosenbaum-Elliott, R.; Percy, L.; Pervan, S. Strategic Brand Management; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2020.
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