Retail resilience in 2025 – Turning disruption into competitive advantage
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The resilience imperative: how top retailers are building stronger, future-ready businesses
We analysed financial data from 100 UK retailers and surveyed about 100 retail leaders to uncover the foundations of long-term resilience
From rising cyber threats to climate change and AI disruption, UK retailers are facing unprecedented pressures across their operations. This new report from Retail Economics and Barclays defines seven critical pillars of retail resilience – revealing how the UK’s largest retailers are confronting uncertainty, protecting performance, and repositioning for growth. With analysis of the UK’s 100 largest retailers, plus survey findings from 93 board-level decision makers, this is your essential guide to navigating the next era of retail risk.
What you can learn from this report
• The 7 risk domains every board must benchmark against
• How top retailers are embedding resilience into their business models
• Why AI is both a growing risk and an untapped enabler
• Where crisis management is lagging – and how to close the gap
• What high-performing retailers are doing differently to stay resilient
Richard Lim, CEO, Retail Economics discussing research findings at Barclays Retail Resilience Conference, 2 Oct 2025.
Key report insights
• 87% of the UK’s top 100 retailers remain profitable on an operating basis
• Retailers with lower ESG performance are more likely to be loss-making
• Only 5% of retail leaders rank reputational risk in their top three threats
• 40.9% see GenAI as an opportunity – but 60% remain cautious
• Crisis management is underprioritised – 65% have not improved systems
• Cyber security, climate risk and AI are the most disruptive future risks
• Retailers with greater risk readiness outperform on revenue and margin
Sneak peek at report insights...
Fig. 1 – The seven pillars of retail resilience
Source: Retail Economics, Barclays
Figure 5 - Principal risk disclosures rise as retailers look to strengthen resilience
Source: Retail Economics, Barclays
Figure 10 - Areas that offer the most growth potential for UK retailers surveyed
Source: Retail Economics, Barclays
In a retail landscape defined by risk, resilience has become a strategic imperative. This research provides retailers with a framework for identifying, measuring and strengthening resilience across their business – from operational agility to AI strategy, ESG, crisis planning and cyber defences. Built on economic data and C-suite insight, this is your roadmap to outperform in a volatile world.
