Exhibitor News

The findings come as the British Retail Consortium reports a sharp rise in anxiety among retail finance leaders: 69%[1] of CFOs describe themselves as pessimistic, 84% rank labour costs in their top three concerns, and 52% plan to cut staff hours or overtime in response to the Employment Rights Act — described as the “biggest shake‑up of employment rules in a generation”.

ReThink Productivity works with some of the biggest retailers and grocers in the UK to provide valuable data led consultancy on how retail businesses can operate more efficiently. In their latest report which will be launched at the Retail Technology Show in London on 22nd April 2026, the data shows that despite years of tightening labour models many retailers have hit a “capacity ceiling”: stores appear highly efficient on paper, with two‑thirds now operating at or above an 80% Efficiency Index [EI], yet remain fundamentally under‑resourced at the moments that matter most to customers.

The result is a growing productivity paradox: colleagues are stretched, queues lengthen at peak times, and customer experience suffers — even as operational metrics suggest stores are running leaner than ever.

Simon Hedaux, co‑founder of Rethink Productivity says: “Many of the obvious cost savings have already been made. The next phase isn’t about cutting harder — it’s about understanding whether colleague time is being spent on the right things. Retailers must rebalance efficiency with capacity, or they risk eroding both margin and customer loyalty.”

The report highlights the hidden drains on store productivity and staff, that add cognitive load without being fully designed or measured these include:

• Security tagging processes that cost more in labour than they save in product value
• Loyalty programmes designed to drive repeat visits can extend transaction times at peak periods, increasing queues and reducing throughput
• Click and collect fulfilment at peak times
• Third‑party delivery picking [such as Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo] that generates revenue while quietly eroding margin
• Parcel collection by customers
• self‑checkout supervision due to tech challenges and scanning problems

Rethink Productivity argues that retailers must now shift from “lean” to “future‑ready” operations, adopting six golden rules that prioritise evidence‑led decision‑making, simplification of in‑store complexity, and targeted deployment of technology.

Sue Hedaux, co-founder and head of insights at ReThink Productivity says: “The retailers who win the next decade won’t be the ones who simply squeeze harder — they’ll be the ones who finally understand the true cost of every task happening in their stores. The era of chasing blunt efficiency is over. The future belongs to retailers who design their operations around the moments that matter most to customers, not the averages on a spreadsheet. It belongs to those who deploy technology only where it genuinely removes labour, not where it quietly adds complexity. And it belongs to leaders who rebuild colleague capacity instead of burning it out.”

She concludes: “The next generation of high‑performing retailers will strike a new balance — cost, customer experience and colleague wellbeing working together.”