Mid-market retailers, whose annualised turnover sits between £100m and £500m, are enthusiastic about the prospect of collaborating with trusted partners to address supply chain challenges, with 89% agreeing that this partnership would make their operations more resilient.

Mid-market retailers are more likely (56%) than large retailers (38%) to believe that improving supply chain resilience increases their ability to proactively address market risks. This group was also more likely to think supply chain outsourcing makes operations more resilient.

Wincanton conducted the research in June 2022 and polled over 250 senior leaders of major retail and eCommerce businesses across the UK. Respondents were asked questions about their supply chains including their vulnerabilities, challenges and steps to address these issues.

You can find the report here.

James Wroath, CEO of Wincanton PLC, said: 

“Our report comes at a uniquely challenging time for domestic and international supply chains, as a number of factors ranging from Covid-19, heightened political and economic risk, and changing labour patterns collide to create issues for businesses' operations. These must be addressed. As we demonstrate through our research, concerns about these impacts are felt acutely in the mid-market segment of the retail sector. These are businesses that do not have the benefits of the vast capital expenditure that their larger competitors have poured into supply chains to achieve greater resilience.

“For these businesses, it is increasingly clear that collaboration to pool resources and alleviate risk is the right way to go. We are seeing this in our own operations where our mid-market customers are seeking a partner to outsource significant parts of, if not all, their supply chain requirements to support their growth ambitions.”